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JUDITH 

ARNOLD BENNETT 



By ARNOLD BENNETT 



NOVELS 

THE ROLL-CALL 

THE PRETTY LADY 

THE lion's share 

THESE TWAIN 

CLAYHANGER 

HILDA LESSWAYS 

THE OLD wives' TALE 

DENRY THE AUDACIOUS 

THE OLD ADAM 

HELEN WITH THE HIGH HAND 

THE MATADOR OF THE FIVE TOWNS 

THE BOOK OF CARLOTTA 

BURIED ALIVE 

A GREAT MAN 

LEONORA 

WHOM GOD HATH JOINED 

A MAN FROM THE NORTH 

ANNA OF THE FIVE TOWNS 

THE GLIMPSE 

THE CITY OF PLEASURE 

THE GRAND BABYLON HOTEL 

HUGO 

THE GATES OF WRATH 

POCKET PHILOSOPHIES 

SELF AND SELF-MANAGEMENT 

THE AUTHOR'S CRAFT 

MARRIED LIFE 

FRIENDSHIP AND HAPPINESS 

HOW TO LIVE ON 24 HOURS A DAT 

THE HUMAN MACHINE 

LITERARY TASTE 

MENTAL EFFICIENCY 

PLAYS 

JiroiTH 
THE TITLE 

THE GREAT ADVENTURE 
CUPID AND COMMONSENSE 
WHAT THE PUBLIC WANTS 
POLITE FARCES 
THE HONEYMOON 
IN COLLABORATION WITH EDWARD KNOBLAUCH 
MILESTONES 

MISCELLANEOUS 

PARIS NIGHTS 

THE TRUTH ABOUT AN AUTHOR 

LIBERTY I 

OVER THERE: WAR SCENES 

GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 
NEW YORK 



JUDITH 



A PLAY IN THREE ACTS 



FOUNDED ON THE APOCRYPHAL BOOK 
OF "JUDITH" 



BY 
ARNOLD BENNETT 

Author of "The Pretty Lady," "The Roll Call," 
"The Old Wives' Tale," "The Title," etc. 



GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS NEW YORK 



Copyright, 1919, 
By George H. Doran Company 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



S)C1A529322 

JUL \s\m 



CHARACTERS 



Hebrews 
Judith 

Haggith, her waiting-woman 
Rahel 

OziAS, Governor of Bethulia 
Chabuis, an elder 
Chaemis, an elder 

A soldier 

A messenger 

Assyrians 

HoLOFEKNES, General of the Assyrian 

armies 
Bagoas, his chief eunuch 
AcHioE, a captain 
Ingur, a soldier 

An attendant on Bagoas 



ACTS AND SCENES 

ACT I 

Scene. — A street in the city of Bethulia. 

ACT II 

Scene I, The "valley near the Assyrian camp. 

Morning. Two days later. 
Scene II. The tent of Holof ernes. Later, the 

same morning. 
Scene III. The same. The same night. 

ACT III 

Scene I. Same as Act I. Later, the same 

night. 
Scene II. The same. The next day. 



JUDITH 



ACT I 

Scene. — A street in the city of Bethvlia in Judea. 
Bethulia is in the hill country, overlooking 
the great plain of Jezreel to the south-west. 
Back, the gates of the city, hiding the view 
of the plain. Right, Judith's hou^e, with a 
tent on the roof. Left, houses. The street 
turns abruptly, hack left, along the wall of 
the city. Left centre, a built-up vantage- 
point, from which the plain can be seen over 
the gates. 

Time. — Fifth century B. C. Towards evenvng. 

Ozias is standing alone in the street, drinking 
from a leathern bottle. Enter Chabris, back 
left. 

Ozias [quickly, but with perfect calmness, hid- 
ing the bottle in his garments]. Old man! It is 
years since I saw you. How came you past the 
guard, old man? 

Chabris. Old ? Old ? I am not yet a hundred. 
Who are you .'' 

Ozias. Ozias. 





10 JUDITH 

Chahris. Ah ! So this is Ozias, the son of 
Ezbon. Before your father could walk I have 
nursed him on my knee — and he was filled like the 
full moon — with naughtiness. 

Ozias. What has brought you at last out of 
your house? Are you come to prophesy once 
more ? 

Chahris. I have given up prophesying. 

Ozias. A profession full of risks. 

Chahris. I pass my endless days in medita- 
tion and solitude. 

Ozias. That sounds much safer. How comely 
is the wisdom of old men ! 

Chahris, And what do you do, sprig.? 

Ozias. Has none told you? 

Chahris. I see nobody but my daughter's 
granddaughter, and her I forbid to speak to me, 
because being a woman she has the tongue of a 
woman, and a woman's tongue is unfavourable to 
meditation. How should I be told? 

Ozias. I am the governor of this great city of 
Bethulia. 

Chahris. You are responsible for this city? 

Ozias. I am. 

Chahris. Now I understand my misfortune. 
And the truth was in me when I said to your 
mother as she lay dying: Better it is to die with- 
out children than to have them that are ungodly. 

Ozias. Oh! How comely a thing is the judg- 
ment of grey hairs! 



ACT I 11 

Chahris. You ask me what has brought me 
at last out of my house. I will tell you. Thirst ! 
Thirst has brought me out of my house. Every 
morning and every evening my great-grandchild 
serves me with pulse and water. For five days 
she has furnished less and less water, and this day 
— not a drop! Can one eat pulse without water 
to drink? Half an hour ago I went to her to 
reason with her, and she lay on her bed cracked, 
and raved that she herself had not drunk for 
three days and that there was no water left in all 
Bethulia. So I came at last out of my house into 
the streets of this city famous for its cool foun- 
tains which never fail, and lo! I meet the gov- 
ernor of this city, and he is Ozias ! Ozias ! Seven 
days do men mourn for him that is dead, but for 
an ungodly man all the days of his life! Why 
is there no water in Bethulia, sprig.'' 

Ozias. Old man, meditation is good and soli- 
tude is good, but think not because you sit staring 
all day at your own belly that the sun and stars 
have ceased to revolve round the earth and the 
kings of this world to make war. Is it possible 
that you do not know what has happened? 

Chahris. I only know that I cannot eat pulse 
without water to drink. 

Ozias. Bethulia is besieged. 

Chahris. Who is besieging Bethulia.? 

Ozias. Holofernes. 



12 JUDITH 

Chahris. I have never heard his name. Who 
is he? 

Ozias. Never heard the name of the chief cap- 
tain of Nebuchadnezzar? Have you heard the 
name of Nebuchadnezzar, by chance ? 

Chahris. I seem to remember it. 

Ozias. Come up here. {They go up the steps 
to the vantage-point."] Look! A hundred and 
twenty thousand foot-soldiers. Twelve thousand 
archers on horseback. Oxen and sheep for their 
provisions. Twenty thousand asses for their car- 
riages. Camels without number. Infinite victuals ; 
and very much gold and silver. The like was never 
seen before. 

Chahris [stepping downl. Why has Nebu- 
chadnezzar set about this thing? What harm has 
Bethulia done to him? 

Ozias. Much harm. Nebuchadnezzar has de- 
cided to be God. He has decreed that all na- 
tions and tribes shall call upon him as God. And 
he has conquered the whole earth, excepting 
only Judea, and Bethulia is the gate into Judea, 
and Bethulia has not listened to his decree, and I 
am the governor of Bethulia. So Nebuchadnezzar 
the great king is very angry and Holofernes is 
the tool of his wrath. 

Chahris [going up the steps again and gazing]. 
How many did you say ? 

Ozias. A hundred and twenty thousand foot 
and twelve thousand horse. 



ACT I 13 

Chabris. At any rate this will be the last war. 

Ozias, Why? 

Chabris, Wliy ! Because plainly war cannot 
continue on such a scale. Or if it does, mankind 
is destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar has rendered war 
ridiculous. 

Ozias [laughs; then half to himself, sarcastic- 
ally/^. What is heavier than lead, and what is 
the name thereof, but an aged fool.'' 

Chabris ■ [^descending again, self-centred^. It 
remains that I cannot eat pulse without water to 
drink. \To Ozias. ^ And surely Bethulia has 
more wells than any other city of Judea. 

Ozias. The wells are at the foot of the hills, 
and Holofemes has seized them all. 

Chabris. That is not fighting. 

Ozias. It is war. 

Chabris. No, no ! In my time soldiers fought 
fairly. 

Ozias. And killed each other. Why should 
Holofernes sacrifice thousands of lives to take the 
heights when he can reach the same result by 
letting his men sit still and watch.'' 

Chabris. I say this is not war. Once I trav- 
elled many days to Nineveh. It is a city of ex- 
travagance, and when I beheld its mad, new- 
fangled "ways, I knew that the last day was nigh. 
I was right. Three thousand and five hundred 
years since Jehovah created Adam, and Eve from 



14 JUDITH 

his rib. . , . Too long ! Too long ! And what is 
pulse without water? I must have water. 

Ozias. It is thirty-four days since Holofernes 
took the wells. If you have received water up to 
yesterday your great-grandchild must indeed have 
thirsted that you might drink. I have distributed 
water by measure, but now the cisterns are empty, 
and women and young men fall down in the 
streets, and there is no water in Bethulia. We 
are all in like case, the high and t) e iowly. 

Chabris. Then give me your bottle. 

Ozias. What bottle? 

Chabris. I saw you put it from your lips as I 
came. 

Ozias. It behoves you to understand, old man, 
that my solemn duty as governor is to maintain 
my own strength, for if I fell the city would fall. 
Without me to inspire them the populace would 
yield in a moment. What is the populace? Pol- 
troons, animals, sheep, rabbits, insects, lice! 

Chabris. Give me the bottle. 

Ozias. It is as empty as the cisterns. 

Chabris. Give it to me, or I will cry through 
the streets that you are concealing water. [^Ozias 
gives him the bottle. Chabris drinks. Ozias 
snatches the bottle away and conceals it.^ Ah ! 
[i4 figure is glimpsed in the tent on the roof of 
Judith's house. Ozias start s.'\ 

Chabris. What is that up yonder? 

Ozias. Nothing. 



ACT I 16 

Chabris. Whose house is this ? 

Ozias, It is the house of Judith, the daughter 
of Merari. 

Chahris. Ah! Merari, the son of Ox, the son 
of Oziel — Oziel and I were httle playful boys to- 
gether — the son of Elcia, the son of Raphaim, the 
son of Eliab, the son of Nathanael, the son 
of 

Ozias. Old man, your memory is terrible. 
Have pity! 

Chabris. The draught has revived me. So 
Merari married and had a daughter. What man- 
ner of woman is she? 

Ozias. She is the widow of Manasses, who died 
of the heat in the barley harvest. And she is 
childless. And she is very rich; for Manasses 
left her gold and silver and menservants and 
maidservants and cattle and lands. And she has 
remained a widow in her house three years and 
four months, and never has come forth. And 
there is none to give her an ill word, for she fears 
the Lord greatly. 

Chabris. Yes. But what manner of woman 
is she.f* 

Ozias. She is beautiful to behold. 

Chabris [fo himself]. Oh! That manner of 
woman ! 

Ozias. And she has fasted all the days of her 
widowhood, except the eves of the Sabbaths, and 
the Sabbaths, and the eves of the new moons, and 



16 JUDITH 

the new moons, and the feasts and solemn days of 
the House of Israel. 

Chabris. You are most deeply versed in her 
life. Is she exceeding beautiful? 

Ozias. She is exceeding beautiful. 

Chabris. Then it was she who peeped {with a 
peculiar emphasis on the word^ from the tent a 
moment since. 

Ozias. Old man, you have eyes. 

Chabris. It is the draught of water. 

Ozias. She is said to take the air in her tent 
daily at this hour. 

Chabris [accusingli/l. And that is why you 
are here, Ozias. 

Ozias. No! I come here to reflect upon my 
plans for the saving of the city, and because of 
this vantage-point, to view the army of the As- 
syrians. 

Chabris. This vantage-point is new since my 
day. You have built it here, not to see the 
Assyrians, but to see Judith. And that is why 
you have set a guard to keep the street empty. 

Ozias. And if it be so, what then.'' Old man, 
you are so old that to confess in your ear is sweet, 
like murmuring secrets into the grave. If I do 
come to this place to watch for the marvellous 
vision of Judith, what then.'' 

Chabris. What then? And the populace of 
Bethulia dying of thirst ? 

Ozias. The populace ! . . , Mice ! Rats ! 



ACT I 17 

Beetles I [^He makes the motion of crushing with 
his foot.^ 

Chahris. Yet the city is doomed. You can 
have no hope. 

Ozias, No hope? Am I then a dead body? 
Am I a rotting corpse? True, the city will be 
taken, and when the city is taken I may be killed. 
But in your meditations, old man, has it not 
occurred to you that death must be highly inter- 
esting? Or I may be seized for a slave. But 
either I should cease speedily to be a slave, or I 
should become the most powerful slave in Babylon. 
{Reflectively.^ We might be enslaved together. 

Chahris. Who? 

Ozias. Judith and I. The history of the world 
is full of miracles. Meanwhile, I live, and the 
strong savour of life inflames my nostrils ; and the 
ever-increasing magnificence and terror of war is 
like wine in my mouth. I shake with delight at 
the vastness and the mystery of the future. . . . 
And there is woman ! 

Chahris. I feel I can eat my pulse now. 

Ozias. There is still woman. 
A fracas is h^ard, hack. Enter Rahely rtmning, 
foUowed hy two soldiers and a mixed group of 
Bethulians, including Charmis, an elder. 

Rahel \to Chahris, like a termagant^. Why 
did you go forth alone, grandad, frightening me 
when I looked and could not find you? At your 
age ! Come back with me this moment. 



18 JUDITH 

CJiahris. Ay ! There is still woman ! 

Ozim {^angrilyy to -first soldier^ . Did I not give 
an order to bar the street ? 

First Soldier. My lord, some of these are 
elders of high authority, and would pass. As for 
the girl 

Rdhel [to Chahrisl. This moment! [She 
faints and falls."] 

Chabris [Indifferently, as Charmis moves to- 
wards RaJiel]. Let her lie. She will come to of 
herself — or not, as God wills. 

Ozias [to the soldiers, with cold fierceness']. 
Get back to your places. [Exeunt soldiers.] 

Charmis [looking at Ozias and indicating 
Rahel]. She is the fourteenth I have seen faint 
from thirst in the streets this day. 

Ozias [soothingly]. Alas! And you or I may 
be the next. We are all in like case. But what 
is to be done? 

[Confused feeble exclamations from the group of 
citizens: "We want to know. We are come 
for that. There is but one thing to be done."] 

Ozias [still soothingly] . Who among you will 
be the spokesman? 

Charmis. We are all spokesmen. 

Ozias. Even the children? 

Charmis. Even the children. In our extrem- 
ity we are all spokesmen. 

Ozias. But not all at once. Will you begin, 



ACT I 19 

honourable Charmis? You know that I am the 
servant of the citizens. 

Charmis {^nervously oratorical]^. Lord Ozias, 
may the God of Israel judge between us and you, 
for you have done us a great injury. [^LooJcs 
round for approval. The group approves.] 

Ozias. An injury? I? Have I not said that 
I am the servant of the citizens ? 

Charmis [more confidently]. And I say again 
that you have done us a great injury, in that you 
have not asked peace of the Assyrians. For we 
have no helper, and the God of Israel has sold us 
into the hands of the Assyrians. We are thrown 
down before them with thirst and with great de- 
struction. Therefore now we demand — [looks 
round] — I say we demand that you call the As- 
syrians, and deliver the whole city for a spoil to 
the people of Holofernes and to all his army. 
For it is better for us to be made a spoil than to 
die of thirst. We will be the slaves of Holo- 
fernes so that our souls may live and so that we 
may not see the death of our infants before our 
eyes, nor our wives nor our children die. [A 
mother in the group convulsively seizes her child. 
Pause. Ozias walks about,] We take to witness 
against you the heaven and the earth and our God 
and the God of our fathers, which punishes us 
according to our sins and the sins of our fathers ; 
and we demand of you that you deliver up the 
city to Holofernes and his host. [A silence.] 



20 JUDITH 

[Ozias ascends solemnly to the vcmtage-point.l 
Ozias [^dommating the assembly]. Friends, it 
would seem that Charmis has made an end. His 
words are excellent and full of pity. Who fol- 
lows him.'' Who will speak next.'' My ear waits. 
[A silence.^ Ah! Then give heed. The words of 
Charmis are full of pity, but I also have pity. Do 
not I too cherish our women, and our maidens 
and our young children.'* And because I pity I 
would not yield to the monster Holofernes. Yes, 
the monster! This is not war that he wages. 
Once our enemy strove fairly with the warriors of 
Israel. Now he makes our women and children to 
die of thirst. The magnificence of war is gone 
from the earth, and Holofernes by the excess of 
his hosts has rendered war ridiculous. {^Chahris 
raises his hands.] The peoples of the earth will 
perceive that henceforward the institution of war 
cannot continue, and after this there will be no 
more war. But meanwhile, if I go crouching to 
the feet of Holofernes, what will happen and what 
will come to pass.-' Surely it will come to pass 
that the monster who has sat down to watch us 
die of thirst will slay our little children and our 
old men, and dishonour our women, and ravish 
our innocent virgins ; for the enslaving of the 
conquered will not content his anger nor satisfy 
the lust of his great hosts. Shall these things be? 
I say they shall not be. But what am I, save the 
servant of the citizens of Bethulia? And what do 



ACT I 21 

I speak, save the thought that is in your hearts? 
There is no cowardice in jou. You are not sheep, 
nor rabbits, nor beetles, nor lice. You are valiant 
men, and women lion-hearted. Without you I 
am naught, and if I defy Holofernes, my forti- 
tude is yours and my resolve springs from you. 
Charmis has invoked the holy name of the God 
of Israel. Let Israel not forget its God, for never 
has the Most High forsaken Israel. Brethren, be 
of good courage. Let us yet endure five days. 
Five short days. And if these days pass and the 
God of Israel turn not his mercy towards us, then 
will I do according to the word of Charmis. Such 
is my oath to you. And so it shall be. 

Haggith enters from the house of Judith, 

Haggith. My lord Ozias ! 

Ozias l^quidcly descendmg the steps'\. What 
say you? 

Haggith. My mistress, the lady Judith, will 
speak with you. She comes. 

Rahel [Jialf rising'[. Water! 

Ozias [excited]. The lady Judith comes out 
of her house after three years. 

Voices in the Group \_excited and impressed^. 
Judith is coming, after three years ! Judith ! 
The widow ! 

Ozias [sternly to the group^. Get hence, 
everyone to his own charge. Soldiers ! Clear the 
street! [Two soldiers advance, running to obey.] 
The men to the walls and towers. The women 



22 JUDITH 

and children to their houses. [^To Rahel, who has 
risen, indicating Chabris.li Take the aged fool 
away, girl. ^^Riithlessly and contemptiwv^ly.^ 
Get home, all of you. Rabble ! Insects ! Lice ! 
[The street is cleared, not without difficult^/, and 

Ozias is left alone with Haggith. 

After a pause, Judith enters slowly, in widow's 

apparel and sackcloth. 

[Exit Haggith into the hoiiseJ^ 

Judith. Greetings, Lord Ozias. 

Ozias. Lady, greetings. {They salute.l^ 

Judith. Where are the people? 

Ozias. I Invited them to go away. 

Judith. Why? 

Ozias. Your waiting-woman said that you 
would speak with me. 

Judith. But what I have to say I would have 
said before them. 

Ozias. Forgive your servant. 

Judith. No! It is I, the woman, who should 
ask to be absolved. 

Ozias. I beseech you 

Judith {^simply^. Perhaps you dismissed the 
people because it is not meet for them to see all 
the workings of the mind which has authority 
over them. 

Ozias [warmly respoiuive]. Ah! Lady! In 
your wisdom and your understanding you have 
comprehended what it is to be the governor of a 
besieged city. You, alone! 



ACT I 23 

Judith. This is a day memorable beyond all 
the days of Bethulia. 

Ozias. It is a day memorable beyond all the 
days of Bethulia — because Judith, the widow of 
Manasses, has issued from her house and from her 
secrecy, and because after long years she has light- 
ened the city with her countenance. 

Judith \^smiling\. We hold converse with 
words, but the shadow of destruction is over us, 
and our hearts are darkened, and we hide our 
hearts in speech. Ozias, governor of Bethulia, 
show me your heart. 

Ozias. I dare not. 

Judith. Dare ! I am not afraid. 

Ozias, You are more beautiful tlian afore- 
time — ^were it possible. 

Judith [accepting the compliment^. And if I 
am.'' 

Ozias. That is what is in my heart! Behold 
my heart, and the depths of my heart. Look 
deep, and deeper, and stiU you will see naught 
therein but the beauty and the sublety of 
Judith. 

Judith. It is no common man that with the 
parched tongue of thirst can talk thus while un- 
speakable calamity assails the city. 

Ozias. It is Ozias. 

Judith \^gentli/\. I came not to meet Ozias, 
but the governor of Bethulia. From my tent I 
hearkened to the words which he spoke to the 



M JUDITH 

people, and the Lord said to me: Go down to 
him, thou, a woman. And I am here. 

Ozias. The Lord reigns ! That which I said 
to the people did not please the ear of Judith? 

Judith. No. 

Ozias. I spoke to the people according- to their 
understanding. Have you not said it is not meet 
for the people to know the thoughts of the ruler? 
Hearken again? And I will speak now to the 
wise woman. I flattered the people with vain 
praise of their courage, when they have no cour- 
age. I affrighted the people with a prophecy of 
terror, when there is no terror — for Holofernes is 
a great warrior, and has compassion in his great- 
ness, for he is a Babylonian. I gave them hope 
of succour when succour is none — for, with a hun- 
dred and twenty thousand footmen and twelve 
thousand horse against us [mth dry humour^ 
to count upon the mercy of the Lord is presump- 
tion. 

Judith {moves aside and returns. Sweetly']. 
Why then did you speak thus to the people ? And 
to what end did you deceive them? I beseech 
you yet again to show me your heart, for it is 
right that I should know. 

Ozias. I saw the vastness of the future as in a 
vision. If the God of Israel perchance is merci- 
ful, and the city is saved at the eleventh hour, 
then it will be said in Jerusalem, that there is none 
like Ozias of Bethulia for steadfastness, for he 



ACT I 25 

alone by his ardour revived the fainting populace 
and held firm the city ; and great will be my recom- 
pense. . . . But that is a dream. Always I have 
faced the substance of things, and the substance 
is that Nebuchadnezzar has decreed to rule over 
the whole earth, and from the east to the west 
there is no living man that shall not bow down 
before Nebuchadnezzar ; and Holofernes, the chief 
captain of Nebuchadnezzar, shall say to Neb- 
uchadnezzar : Lo ! Here is Ozias the Israelite 
who resisted thy mighty armies for thirty-four 
days and yet five days more. Use him if it seem 
good to thee. And I shall be lifted up to be a 
satrap of Nebuchadnezzar, and I shall partake of 

the bright glory of Nebuchadnezzar. And 

J[]iesitates^. 

Judith \^suhtly and sweetly]. And.'* 

Ozias [m an outburst]. What am I without 
you, O Judith? Before Manasses loved you, did 
I not love you? For three years have I not 
watched over you in all honour and respect, and 
troubled you not with my importunity until this 
day, which is the day of days? What am I with- 
out you, and what shall be my dominion and my 
satrap*s throne if you do not sit in majesty by my 
side, O Rose of Sharon and matchless among 
women ? 

Judith [as before]. My lord, you are like a 
rushing river. 

Ozias. You have seen my heart. 



26 JUDITH 

Judith, I have seen it. 
Ozias. And what say you? 
There is the sudden sound of a disturbance. Enr 
ter, from back, soldiers, holding Achior, and 
a group of excited citizens. Haggith ap- 
pears at the house-door. 
Ozias [fiercely]. What! Are my commands 
no more than the wind in the corn, and is there 
to be naught but tumult within the walls of this 
city? 

Voices in the Group. An Assyrian! An As- 



syrian 



First Soldier. Lord Ozias ! We saw this man 
lying bound at the foot of the hill, and we de- 
scended and loosed him and brought him privily 
into Bethulia by the secret way. And now we 
present him to my lord. 

Ozias. Fools! Then no longer is the secret 
way secret. 

Voices. Slay him ! Stone him ! Whip the 
dog! 

Judith [nobly scornful, to the crowd^. Oh! 
Brave ! Oh ! Men of courage and high valour I 

Ozias [to Achior]. Who are you? 

Achior. Achior. 

Ozias. Your condition? 

Achior [mth calm, genial candour]. Captain 
of all the Ammonites in the army of Holofernes. 

Judith. Let them loose him, Lord Ozias. His 
eyes are not the eyes of treachery. 



ACT I n 

Ozias [to the soldiers']. Loose him. [To 
Achior.'] And how come you here? Speak the 
truth — and fear. 

Achior. Mj mouth shall say truth, but I will 
not fear. 

Ozias. My hand is terrible. 

Achior. Thus it happened. When the chil- 
dren of Israel had shut up the passages of the hill 
country and had fortified all the tops of the high 
hills, Holofernes was very angry. And he called 
the captains of Ammon and said to them : Tell me 
now, ye sons of Chanaan, who these Israelites are 
that dwell in the hill country, and wherein is their 
power and strength, and why they have deter- 
mined not to come and meet me, more than all the 
inhabitants of the west? And I, Achior, answered 
the question of Holofernes. 

Ozias. And what answer gave you? 

Achior. I said to Holofernes: This people is 
descended of the Chaldeans. But they left the 
way of their ancestors and would not follow the 
gods of their fathers ; and they worshipped the 
God of heaven. So they were cast out from the 
face of the gods of Chaldea, and they fled into 
Mesopotamia. And they came to Chanaan. But 
when a famine covered all the land of Chanaan 
they went down into Egypt, and the king of Egypt 
brought them low with labouring in brick and 
made them slaves. Then they cried to their God, 



28 JUDITH 

and he smote all the land of Egypt with plagues. 
. . . And God dried the Red Sea for them. 

Voices. It is true. It is true ! 

Achior. And they came to Chanaan, and drove 
before them the inhabitants of that land, and they 
dwelt in that country many days. And while they 
sinned not before their God they prospered, be- 
cause the God that hates iniquity was with them. 

Voices. It is true. 

Achior. But when they departed from the way 
which their God appointed then they were de- 
stroyed in many battles very sore, and were led 
captives into a land that was not theirs, and the 
temple of their God was cast to the ground. 

Voices. Gentile dog! Shall we not render him 
to pieces.'' 

Judith. There is but one truth, brethren, 
whether it please or whether it displease. 

Ozias [io Achior^. Make an end. 

Achior. And I said to Holofemes: But now 
this people are returned to their God, and have 
possessed Jerusalem, and are seated in the hill 
country. [With more emphasis.^ And I said fur- 
ther to Holofernes: Now therefore, my lord and 
governor, if there be any error in this people, let 
us go up and we shall overcome them. \^With still 
more emphasis.^ But if there be no iniquity in 
their nation, let my lord now pass by, lest their 
Lord defend them and their God be for them, and 
we become a reproach before all the world. 



ACT I 89 

Judith. It is well said. 

Ozias. Lady, it was well said — if the slave said 
it. \To Achior.'] I demanded of you: How 
came you here? 

Achior. Thus. When I had finished speaking 
to Holofernes, all they that were about my lord 
and governor rose up in wrath and cried : Kill him. 
And the face of Holofernes darkened, and he said : 
And who art thou, Achior, that thou hast prophe- 
sied among us to-day that we should not make war 
with the people of Israel because of their God.? 
And who is God but Nebuchadnezzar? Nebu- 
chadnezzar by my hand will destroy the Israelites, 
and their God shall not deliver them. Their 
mountains shall be drunken with their blood and 
their fields shall be filled with their dead bodies. 
[The citizens show alarm.^ And thou, Achior, 
said Holofernes, shalt see my face no more. Thou 
shalt be delivered up to the Israelites in Bethulia, 
and when thou seest me again thou shalt fall 
among the slain. . . . And he commanded his ser- 
vants, and they took me and bound me, and carried 
me secretly to the foot of the hill of Bethulia. 
And here am I ! 

Ozias [after a pause, positiveli/]. It is a 
wicked device for our undoing. 

Judith. How so ? 

Ozias. Plainly this fellow lies, and he has come 
subtly with a tale to spy out our strength. Pres- 



30 JUDITH 

ently he will seek to escape from us again to the 
Assyrians. 

Voices. Spy ! Stone him ! Rend him ! 

Achior \^to Ozias^. To Holof ernes, my lord 
and governor, I spoke truth ; and to you also I 
speak truth. Never has my mouth lied, nor my 
tongue uttered deceit. If death is ordained for my 
recompense, so be it. 

Judith [/o Ozias^. He is a fair youth, and has 
spoken truly and feared not. 

Ozias [with meaning^. Lady, he is a fair 
youth, and fearless. But by what sign know you 
that he has spoken truly ? 

Judith, By the glance of his eyes I know. 

Ozias, It is a sign that suffices not. Shall it 
be said that Ozias was deceived, and shall Ozias 
imperil his renown, by reason of the glance of a 
youth when he looks at a woman — even you ? . . . 
And if he lies not, then he is a fool and his folly 
was great. 

Achior, I spoke the truth to Holof ernes. 

Ozias [fiercely]. But to speak truth did not 
content you. Having answered Holofernes, you 
must needs offer counsel to your lord and gover- 
nor ! Who were you to offer counsel to the great- 
est of all the captains of the earth.'' The pro- 
tection of the mighty conqueror covered you, and 
lo! in your folly did you estrange yourself froir^ 
him. Fool ! 

Achior, I said to Holofernes, my lord and 



ACT I 31 

governor, that which I was appointed to say — 
that, no more and no less. 

Ozias. And who appointed you to say that 
which you said? 

Judith. If there be a God in Israel, and if the 
Lord has not abandoned us, may not this youth 
be the messenger of the Most High to bring us 
comfort, and for a warning to the vainglory of 
Holof ernes ? 

Ozias l^with ironif\. All is possible to the Lord. 
Yet may his purposes be liidden from us. [To 
the soldier sJ\ Until the Lord vouchsafe new wis- 
dom to me, his servant, bind fetters about the feet 
of Achior, and take him to the house of bondage 
and set a guard over him, for a spy is not more 
dangerous than a fool. 

Charmis [springing forward^. It shall be 
done, Ozias. 

\_The soldiers put chains on Achior. '\ 

Judith [quietli/l. Shame him not with fetters, 
lord Ozias. 

Ozias [after a pause, to the soldier si. Unbind 
him! [The soldiers ohey.1 Take him off! Speed- 
ily! Away! All! Let none remain! Hasten, I 
say! 

[Exetmt back, all except Ozias and Judith, As he 
goes Achior hisses Judith's rohe.^ 

Judith [to Achior, as he does so'\. Truth- 
teUer! 



S2 JUDITH 

\^At a sign from Judith, Haggith re-enters the 
house. ^ 

Ozias. Your face is turned from me, because 
of the youth. Yet you came out to see the gov- 
ernor of the city, and the governor could do no 
other than I have done. 

Judith \looTiing at 7iim], Ozias, you have 
shown me your heart. 

Ozias. Yea ! 

Judith. And in the moment when the youth 
came you asked of me my counsel. 

Ozias. Yea ! 

Judith. Hear me now, for the words you have 
spoken before the people this day are not right. 

Ozias. What words? 

Judith. This promise that you have uttered 
to deliver the city to our enemies, unless within 
five days the Lord turn to help. Who are you 
that seek to stand instead of God among the chil- 
dren of men? 

Ozias. Stand instead of God ! 

Judith. Who are you that have tempted God 
this day? For you cannot find the depth of the 
heart of man, — how then shall you search out God 
or comprehend his purpose? Brother, provoke 
not the Lord our God to anger. For if he will 
not help us within these five days, he has power 
to defend us when he will, even every day. Do 
not bind the counsels of God. For God is not as 
man that he may be threatened, neither as the son 



ACT I S3 

of man that he should be wavering. Therefore let 
us wait for salvation from him, and he will hear 
our voice, — if it please him. Moreover, this city 
is the key and the gateway to all Judea. If it be 
obstinate in resistance, Judea is not defiled, but if 
it be taken the whole land shall lie waste and 
God will require the profanation of it at our 
mouth. 

Ozias. All that you have spoken is truth, and 
there is none to gainsay your words. From the 
beginning of your days we have known your 
wisdom, and your understanding is manifest. . . . 
\_With significance.'] But we are thirsty. 

Judith. If we are thirsty, let us give thanks 
to the Lord our God, who tries us, even as he did 
our fathers. 

Ozias. The people in the extremity of their 
thirst compelled me to an oath, which I will not 
break. 

Judith. Say you the people, Ozias.'' As for 
them, you hold them lightly, and they are as 
naught in your eyes. So much you have avowed. 

Ozias [in a new tone]. It is true. This day I 
hold the people lightly. But when the great 
madness and desperation of thirst comes at last 
upon them, who shall hold them.'' In that day 
they will seize the things forbidden, and they will 
drink the wine sanctified and reserved for the 
priests that serve the Lord. And to avert from 
me the wrath of Joachim, the high priest of Jeru- 



34 JUDITH 

salem, I have sent already a messenger to Jeru- 
salem to bring a license that tliis matter may be 
lawful. 

Judith [shocked^. Nay! 

Ozias. I say it will be so. 

Judith. It shall not be so. 

Ozias. Then pray you to the Most High for 
the city, even for all of us, and the Lord will 
send rain for our cisterns and we shall faint no 
more. Pray, for you are a godly woman, and the 
God of Israel shall listen. 

Judith \^zmth supreme impressiveness^. Hear 
me again, Ozias. This night I will do a thing 
which shall go throughout all the generations 
to the children of Israel. You shall stand this 
night in the gate of the city, and I will go forth 
from the city with my waiting-woman ; and within 
the days that you have promised to deliver the 
city to our enemies the Lord will visit Israel by my 
hand. 

Ozias. On what errand will you go? 

Judith. Enquire not of my act, for I will not 
declare until the things are finished that I do. But 
this I declare, that the Lord has inclined himself 
to me, and now he has sent Achior for a sign. 

Ozias. You go to Holof ernes! 

Judith. To Holofernes. 

Ozias. Do not go ! 

Judith. But why shall I not go? 

Ozias. The perils of the heathen will sur- 



ACT I 35 

round you, and harm will surely befall you, for 
Holofernes will work lamentable evil upon you. 
And I cannot suffer it. 

JvJith [smili7tg'\. Did not Ozias say that 
Holofernes was a great warrior and had compas- 
sion in his greatness? 

Ozias [^insistent^. I cannot suffer it, for if any 
shame come upon you I will not live. 

Judith. God will not see his handmaid shamed. 
Moreover I regard not myself in this thing, but 
the welfare of the people of Israel. 

Ozias {^kneeling]. Judith, I entreat you! For 
you are the light of my eyes, and without you the 
world is not. 

Judith [softli^^. I know it. Think you that 
in these years I have not seen the depths of your 
heart, Ozias? Think you that I was blind in my 
tent? Think you that I watched not upon you? 
You were comely in my sight. But this day you 
have revealed your pride. For you seek not God, 
but the vanity of the earth, and you would make 
all Israel the instrument of your glory, denying 
the Lord. And I am sad. 

Ozias. Forgive me. Rose of Sharon. 

Judith [softli/l. Who am I, to forgive my 
brother? Peace be upon you! [She turns 
towards her house.^ 

Ozias [rising^. Stay! 

Judith. I go to prepare myself for that which 
I have to do. [Exit into the house.] 



S6 JUDITH 

[A soldier shows himself, back.'\ 

Ozias. Friend ! 

First Soldier {^approaching and saluting^. 
Lord ! Your command ! 

Ozias. Send to me the officer of the watch. 

First Soldier. Lord, the honourable lieutenant 
lies sick. 

l^Haggith appears at the door of the house.^ 

Ozias. Thirst has overcome him? 

First Soldier [bomng^. He raves on the bed, 
lord, and his tongue is like the tongue of a dog. 

Ozias. Who then commands the watch by the 
watchfire this night? 

First Soldier. I, lord. The watchfire waits 
the torch. 

Ozias. Will you, too, faint, and will your 
tongue be like the tongue of a dog? 

First Soldier [grimli/^. Not mine, lord. 

Ozias. Do the people complain? 

First Soldier. Lord, they whine and snivel 
mightily. 

Enter Haggith with a small sack. 

Ozias. Is the secret way shut ? 

First Soldier. Shut and barred, lord. 

Ozias. It must be opened. . . . Stand ! I will 
see to it. 

First Soldier. As my lord wills. 

Ozias. Has the watch aught to drink? 

First Soldier. My lord knows that no drop is 
left in the gourds. 



ACT I 37 

\^Ozias waves him away, and he retires.^ 

Ozias [to Haggith, who is busy with the sack]. 
Woman, has the lad}^ Judith perchance dreamed a 
dream ? 

Haggith [^enigmatically]. My mistress nas 
dreamed no dream. Why does the lord Ozias- 
ask? 

Ozias. It seemed to me [stops]. 

Haggith. Dreams lift up fools. 

[Exit into the house.] [Exit Ozias, l.] 
[The soldier strolls forward. Twilight begins to 

faU.] 
[Enter Haggith from the house with more bag- 
gage.] 

Haggith [to the soldier; curtly; not looking at 
him^. So thou hast no water .f* 

First Soldier [mth genial freedom]. Yea, 
Haggith, we have still a little. 

Haggith. Then thou hast lied to the gover- 
nor? 

First Soldier. Him? [With a jerk of the 
shoulder.] He knows! In truth now, thinkest 
thou he would expect us soldiers to keep guard 
without water? He knows! But he is a great 
lord, and in seemliness he asks for a lie, and that 
which he asks is given to him — in seemliness. 

Haggith. But the officer raving as thou hast 
said with thirst? 

First Soldier. Ah ! It is the business of a wor- 
shipful officer to scorn deceit and to suffer. 



38 JUDITH 

Haggith. And all the people? 

First Soldier. The people are the people. But 
we soldiers are soldiers — and must drink, or we 
cannot guard. [Fawt?*.] Eh! I could lie down 
and snore for seven years, but I am appointed to 
watch all night. 

Haggith \^suddenly caressing'\. Sweet warrior ! 
Would I could rest thee ! 

First Soldier [^startled hy the change in her 
demeanour^. Haggith! Thou art marvellously 
and desirably changed. 

Haggith. I am practising to thy profit for 
that which lies before me and my mistress. 

First Soldier. What meanest thou.f* 

Haggith. Chut! If thou hast heard a word, 
let it die with thee — it will not burst thee. 

First Soldier. Lord ! turn away from me vain 
hopes and concupiscence. 

Haggith. And so thou sleepest not this night ! 
. . . Neither do I sleep. 

First Soldier. What.? 

Haggith. I go with my mistress upon a 
journey. 

First Soldier. What journey? There can be 
no journey for thee, unless thou leave the city and 
wend to the Assyrians. 

Haggith [curt again]. Nevertheless we go 
upon a journey. 

First Soldier. It is madness. 

Haggith. It may be. 



ACT I 39 

First Soldier. Who can tell the heart of a 
master? Not I! When dost thou depart? 

Haggith. My mistress is attiring. 

First Soldier. Thou dost not attire her? 

Haggith. I ! I, who have charge over all that 
is hers ! Wilt thou tell me, then, what is the task 
of her tiring-women ? Idle sluts ! 

First Soldier. And this is thy baggage? 

Haggith [matter-of-fact^. A cruse of oil, a 
bag of parched com, fine bread, three lumps of 
figs — and a bottle of wine — yea, the last! 

First Soldier {^drawing in his lips^. Ah! But 
thou wilt need an ass for this cargo. 

Haggith [c?nZ«/']. I am the ass. 

Enter Judith, magnificently dressed. 
[The soldier retires, hacTc.^ 

Judith. Is all prepared? 

Haggith. All is prepared, mistress. 
Enter Ozias, l. 

Ozias [ecstatic at the sight of Judith's splen- 
dour^. O, loveliness! O, lily of the field! Who 
shall withstand you, and who shall say you nay! 

Judith [smiling^. I am ready to depart. 

Ozias. The secret way is opened. I will lead 
you to it. 

Judith [gentli/^. The secret way? I will take 
no secret way. 

Ozias. But hear me, lady. The peril from the 
archers far off 

Judith. What did I say to you, lord Ozias? 



40 JUDITH 

I said: You shall stand this night in the gate of 
the city, and I will go forth. My desire is that 
you command the gateman to open the gates, so 
that I and my waiting-woman may pass out before 
all men, and in the sight of the Lord. [She bends 
to examine Haggith^s baggage. 1 

Ozias [^moved. Calling to the soldiers']. IIo ! 
Let the gates of the city be opened, that the lady 
Judith may go forth. 

First Soldier. Yea, lora. [Calling to other, 
off.] Gatemen ! 

[The gatemen man the gate-chains, and citizens 
rush in with cries: "What shall happen to 
us? The lady Judith leaves the city? At 
nightfall? What is it?"] 

Ozias [fiercely, to the crowd]. Get hence! 
Dogs ! 

Judith [softly]. Let them stay. Lord Ozias, 
for that which I do, I do not in secret, neither shall 
it be hidden. 

Ozias [to the crowd]. Make a way clear to the 
gates. 

Judith. Before I go, I will look into the 
valley whither I descend. [She mounts to the 
vantage-point.] 

Voices. Water ! Water ! Or we die ! 

Judith [from the vantage-point]. Brethren, 
bewail not! Remember what things the Lord did 
to Abraham, and how he tried Isaac, and what 
happened to Jacob in Mesopotamia. For the 



ACT I 41 

Lord has not tried us in the fire as he did then, 
neither has he taken vengeance upon us. But 
the Lord scourges them that come near to him, to 
admonish them. \_She kneels. Following her 
example, everybody kneels. 'I Lord God of my 
father Simeon, the Assyrians are multipHed in 
their power ; they trust in shield, and spear, and 
bow, and shng; and know not that thou art the 
Lord which breakest battles ; the Lord is thy 
name. Behold their pride, and send thy wrath 
upon their heads; give into my hand, which am 
a widow, the power that I have conceived. For 
thy power standeth not in multitude, nor thy 
might in strong men. Smite the Assyrians by 
the deceit of my lips ; break down their stateliness 
by the hand of a woman. And make my speech 
and deceit to be their wound and stripe, who have 
purposed cruel things against thy covenant and 
against the top of Zion. And make every nation 
and tribe to acknowledge that thou art the God 
of all power, and that there is none other that 
protecteth the people of Israel but thou. [She 
rises. All rise. She comes down from the van- 
tage-point. SUence.^ 

Ozias [^moved^. Open the gates. 

Judith [to Haggith'\. Nothing is forgotten? 

Haggith. Nothing. 

[Judith moves a step towards the gates. ^ 

Ozias. The soul of my soul goes with you into 
the valley. 



42 JUDITH 

Judith [to Haggith, solemnly^. And the 
knife? 

[Haggith gives a gesture. At the same moment a 
woman comes from the house with a knife, 
which slie hands to Haggith, who hands it to 
Judith, who takes it ceremoniously, and hides 
it in her dress. The gates are now opened, 
and the distant plain under the setting sun is 
seen covered with the tents of the Assyrian 
army.^ 
[Judith goes slowly through the gates, followed 
by Haggith carrying the baggage.^ 
Voices [as Judith passes^. Water! Water! 
Ozias [with deep emotion^. Close the gates. 
Light the watchfire. 

[The gates begin slowly to close. The glow 
of the watchfire is seen.^ 

CUETAIN. 



ACT II 



SCENE I. 



The valley of Jezreel. Tents of the Assyrians m 
the distance. 

Haggith with her baggage enters to 
Ingur and his men. 

Time. — The next morning but one. 

Ingur. What art thou? 

Haggith [prudishly and coldly^. If it please 
thee, I am a woman. 

Ingur. No. Thou art a hedgehog. 

Haggith [suddenly cajoling^. I ask pardon. 
When I saw thy great handsomeness I grew afraid, 
and my tongue was stiffened. In my country 
there is no man so handsome as thou art. 

Ingur. Ah! [Much mollified.] And what 
then is thy country.'' 

Haggith. I am a woman of the Hebrews, and 
I have come from Bethulia. 

Ingur [astonished]. A woman of the Hebrews! 
From Bethulia ! [To his men.] Stand back from 
my face. [The men retire. To Haggith.] This 
is a rare strange tale. 

Haggith. Could I lie to thee? I have escaped 
43 



44. JUDITH 

from the city, which is given over to be con- 
sumed. I sought water for my thirst, for in 
Bethulia there is no water, and the people faint in 
the streets. 

Ingur. But it is a long journey from Bethulia, 
and thou art fresh and delicate as though just 
risen from thy bed. 

Haggith [smiUng'\. I can hide nothing from 
thee, mighty wolf. I am, indeed, but just risen 
from my bed. The night before last night I set 
forth secretly, and came into the valley yesterday 
at noon, and lay soft in a cave where three springs 
bubbled, and drank, and slept until this morning's 
sunrise. 

Ingur. What is thy name.? 

Haggith, Haggith. 

Ingur. Thy name is as strange as thy errand, 
and as thyself; and surely thou art a woman of 
the Hebrews, which is a race of lunatics as I am 
told. 

Haggith. I have figs fit for a great king. 
[Opens her sack and offers some figs.^ 

Ingur Keating']. Um ! And what else hast 
thou ? Let me touch thee, Haggith. [He touches 
her carefully.'] Yes, thou art outlandish, and no 
doubt mad, but comely. Comely ! Thou hast the 
likeness and feel of a woman. Always have I 
hankered after strange women, and now lo ! one 
falls ripe into my mouth. [Haggith shrinks. Re- 
assuringly.'] In a way of speaking! In a way 



ACT II 45 

of speaking! For thou art not in my mouth. And 
so thou camest to slake thy thirst? 

Haggith. Yes, my roaring lion. 

Ingur. Listen ! Thou hast saved thy life with 
water. But thou art lost. 

Haggith. Lost? 

Ingur. Ay ! A woman in the camps of the 
Assyrians — she is undone. She is a lamb in a 
den of terrible tigers. [Comfortingly.^ No, no! 
I will protect thee, but I warn thee that thou art 
undone. I am honest. [Caresses her.^ 

Haggith [clumsily returning his caress^. 
Thou wilt not harm me. 

Ingur. I will not tear thee to pieces, but thou 
shalt come away with me. [She timidly strokes 
him.] Thou hast not the habit of this strok- 
ing. 

Haggith. My mistress commanded me, when 
I encountered any noble Assyrian, to use him thus. 
It is true that I have not the habit. Nevertheless 
I do what I can. 

Ingur [startled at the mention of a mistressl. 
Thy — thy mistress? Ye are two? Where then 
is thy mistress? Tell me upon the instant — is 
she fairer than thou? 

Haggith. Seven times more fair. 

Ingur. Fetch her ! 

Haggith. My mistress is washing herself in a 
fountain of water by the cave. She sent me 



46 JUDITH 

forward in peace and friendliness to announce her 
coming. 

Ingur. Fetch her. [Suddenly perceiving 
Bagoas in the distance, he changes his manner.^ 
Stay ! Bagoas is approaching, and he may have 
seen thee. His eyes are sharp. Stand off. [Hag- 
gith moves away a littl0.~\ But when I tell thee, 
fall down on thy face. 

Haggith. Is he a great Captt* 

Ingur. His mightiness is the chiei eunuch of 
the Prince, and there is none greater than he save 
only the Prince himself, for Bagoas has charge 
over all the women of the Prince's tents. 

Haggith. Women of the Prince's tents ! 

Ingur. Ay ! Wives ! Concubines ! Virgins ! 
Beyond counting. Didst thou think in thy He- 
brew pride, that the Prince was a savage and a 
barbarian.? . . . Down, damsel! Here is Bagoas. 
Embrace the earth for thy life's sake. [Haggith 
oheys.'\ 

Enter Bagoas, with attendants, l. 

{Ingur salutes him with extreme deference."] 

Bagoas. Who art thou.'' 

Ingur. Ingur, mightiness, commanding twenty 
footmen. 

Bagoas. Begone from my sight. This morn- 
ing the Prince condescends to walk through the 
camp, that all the armies may take joy in his 
countenance. It is not meet that he should be 
seen of any lower than a lieutenant. 



ACT II 47 

Ingur [indicating HaggitJi\. Mightiness, a 
woman of the Hebrews escaped from Bethulia to 
find water ! And bj my subtlety I have captured 
her. 

Bagoas. A woman of the Hebrews ! [Survey- 
ing Haggith.'\ Rise, scum, and let me behold thy 
deformity. [Haggith oheys.'\ 

Ingur, And there is another yet to appear, her 
mistress, seven times fairer. 

Bagoasi Her mistress may be seven times 
fairer than this eyesore, and yet ugly. [To 
HaggitJi.^ Who is thy mistress? 

Haggith. The lady Judith. 

Bagoas. Judith ! A name fit only for a cat ! 
Why is she here? How is she here? What is 
her secret and detestable purpose? For there is 
a trick in this thing. 

Haggith. I know not my mistress's purpose. 

Bagoas. Tell me thy mistress's purpose, or I 
will have thee smothered. 

Haggith. I know only that if Holofemes 

Bagoas [stopping her angrily^. Callest thou 
the illustrious one by his name? The most high 
Prince Holofernes, foul wench. 

Haggith, The most high Prince Holofemes — 
if he so wills my mistress would speak with his 
highness. 

Bagoas [laughing heartily'^. Speak with the 
Prince? Speak with the Prince? Ha-ha! [All 



48 JUDITH 

the men laugh.Ji What is the state of thy mis- 
tress ? 

Haggith. The lady Judith is a widow. 

Bagoas [^stUl more amused^. Aha! A widow! 
And the Hebrew hag would speak with Prince 
Holof ernes ! [TA^ men laugh and jeer.^ 

Enter Judith, r. 

\_Haggith goes quickly to her. All the men stare 

at Judith, deeply impressed.'] 

Haggith [aside to Judith]. There are many 
hussies in the camps, thousands and thousands, 
mistress. This lord is the chief eunuch. 

Bagoas \^aside to an attendant]. If this be an 
example of the Bethulian women, I shall have a 
momentous business upon me when their city falls. 

First Attendant. Yea, mightiness. 
[^Judith, signing to Haggith to stand aside, hows 
to the ground before Bagoas; then rises again.] 

Bagoas [after a short pause]. You are very 
beautiful. 

Judith. There are beautiful women in Judea, 
but no man of Judea would look twice at such as 
I, a shrunken widow, like dried fish. 

[Exit Ingur, excitedly, l.] 

Bagoas. I have heard how you have escaped 
out of Bethulia and come hither in order to find 
water. [Blandly.] Aught else? 

Judith. My desire also was to have speech 
privately with the great conqueror, Holofemes. 

Bagoas. Ah! We are well met, you and I. 



ACT II 49 

For I am Bagoas, chief eunuch to the illustrious 
Prince. \_Aside to second attendant.^ Run. 
Fetch the box of veils. 

\^Ejnt second attendant, l.] 

Judith \_saluting once more^. I supplicate then, 
mighty Bagoas, that you lead me quickly to the 
illustrious Prince Holofernes. 

Bagoas. Surely ! Surely ! It is my pleasure 
to content you. \^Aside, to attendant, anxiously.^ 
This dried fish by her damnable beauty will reach 
great power, and if I speak not softly to her now 
she will undo me in that day. 

First Attendant. Yea, mightiness. 

Judith. I humbly thank your mightiness. 

Bagoas. But it is necessary that you should 
relate to me your little affair. For no woman 
speaks to the illustrious Prince until she has 
spoken to me. 

Judith. It cannot be so. 

Bagoas [peTsuasiveli/'\. In my ear, privily. 
Approach. 

Judith. It cannot be so. 

Bagoas. What mean you — it cannot be so? 

Judith. I will utter my errand to the illustri- 
ous Prince Holofernes alone. 

Bagoas ^losing his self-control; angrily']. 
What.? Thou queasy chit! Thou Minx! Thou 
Jade! Baggage! Mopsy! Shameless wench! 
Thou wilt not obey Bagoas, chief eunuch in the 
camps of the Assyrians ! I will make thee the 



50 JUDITH 

slave of my slave and the plaything of scullions. 
l^Stops. Judith smiles. Haggith subsides alarmed 
at her feet.^ Thou shalt be abandoned to the 
sutlers and the ass-drivers, and thus thou shalt 
learn who is Bagoas and what is his power! [^Sfops 
again. Judith stiU smiles.^ The strumpets of 
the kitchen shall scorn thee! I — I 

Judith [^smiling sweetli/\. Mightiness! Mighti- 
ness ! I am your bondwoman, but it is appointed 
by heaven that I shall speak with the illustrious 
Prince Holofernes himself. 

Bagoas {^controlling himself, smilingli. Well, 
if it is appointed by heaven, so shall it be. Forget 
my words. They had no evil intent, for I was 
trying you, as my duty is. [Aside to attendant.^ 
The sweetness of her glance dissolves my backbone. 

First Attendant. Yea, mightiness. 

Bagoas {to JuAith'\. Follow me, lady. [Aside 
to attendant.^ Thinkest thou the Prince will 
come this way? [Pointing.^ 

First Attendant. Yea, mightiness. 

Bagoas. Or that ? 

First Attendant. Yea, mightiness. 

Bagoas. If the Prince so much as sees her 
before the city is taken, never will the city be 
taken, and we shall all be her captives. 

First Attendant. Yea, mightiness. 

Bagoas [beating the attendant^. I will lead 
her by the path to the cave, for the Prince will 



ACT II 51 

surely not come that way. [To Judith.'\ Follow 
me, lady. 

[Bagoas moves r. Judith hesitates a moment as 
Haggith picks up her sack. Enter r. the 
heralds of Holofernes, foUowed hy Holo- 
f ernes. ^ 

Bagoas [to himselfl. Holofernes! [To his 
attendants.^ Hide her, rascals, or Assyria is un- 
done. [The attendants range themselves between 
Judith and Holofernes.^ 

[Bagoas receives Holofernes with a prostration 
and high ceremony.^ 

Holofernes. Where is this woman? 

Bagoas. Woman, Prince? 

Holofernes [impatient^. Tliis Hebrew woman, 
I say ! One Ingur has run among the tents chat- 
tering, and the rumour of her has spread through 
the camps like a plague. By Nebuchadnezzar the 
one god, where is she, for it has been told to me 
that her beauty excels the beauty of all the women 
of the East and ravishes the eye exceedingly? 

Bagoas. Ah! It is of Judith that the Prince 
deigns to speak. Lo ! I had caught her and was 
bringing her to your highness. [To attendants.^ 
Stand aside, dogs. 

[Judith is revealed to Holofernes. She prostrates 
herself and then rises. Holofernes gazes at 
her, entranced.^ 

Holofernes. So thou hast escaped out of 
Bethulia to find water for thy thirst? 



52 JUDITH 

Judith. To find water, and to have speech 
with the most illustrious Prince. 

Holof ernes. Woman [approaching her a step, 
and then standing still], be of good comfort, and 
fear not in thy heart, for I never hurt any that 
was willing to serve Nebuchadnezzar, the god of 
all the earth. And if thy people that dwell in the 
mountains had not held me lightly, I would not 
have lifted up my spear against them, but they 
have done these things to themselves. 

Bagoas [aside, to Holof ernes]. Terrible mas- 
ter, she is full of guile and deceitfulness, and came 
not at all for water, but for a hidden purpose 
against you. Therefore enquire of her closely. 

Holof ernes [to Bagoas]. Chastise thy tongue, 
ere it overthrow thee, fiend. There is no guile in 
that face. [To Judith.] Tell me now thy mes- 
sage and wherefore in truth thou art come. And 
tremble not, for thou shalt live this night. 

Judith. Great prince, receive the words of 
your servant and suffer your handmaid to speak 
in your presence, and I will declare no lie to my 
lord. 

Holof ernes. Speak. 

Judith. I will speak to my lord alone. 

Bagoas [aside to Holof ernes]. It is a device 
against my lord. 

Holof ernes [to Judith]. Speak now, I com- 
mand thee. 

Judith. My message concerns the fate of 



ACT II 53 

Bethulia, and of all the Assyrians, and of my lord. 
Life and death are in it, for I have communed with 
heaven. 

Holof ernes. Which heaven? Thine or mine? 

Judith. There is but one God. 

Holof ernes [^roughl7/1. And he is Nebuchad- 
nezzar. Speak thy tale. 

Judith. I will speak to my lord alone. 

Bagoas \^aside to Holof ernes^. It is a device. 

Holof ernes [angrili/'\. Speak out all thy heart, 
and quickly! 

Judith. I will speak to my lord in my lord's 
tent. 

Holof ernes \Jurious'\. In my tent! Who art 
thou who defiest me, and what is thy licence, 
heathen slave, to defile the tent of Holofernes? 
Bind her. Take her away, and twist the cords 
about her neck, and strangle her, and cast her 
insolence into the lake. 

{^Judith is seized and bound in an instant.^ 

Holofernes [m two minds^. Wait! 

Bagoas. She is bound, illustrious prince. 

Holofernes. Wait ! 

Bagoas [aside to Holofernes^. Prince, let not 
the benevolence of your heart be your undoing, for 
in the loveliness of her face is cunning and great 
peril. I have lived all my days amid the crafti- 
ness of women, and my lord also knows somewhat 
of their strange tricks, which bring ruin to the 
carnal. 



54 JUDITH 

Holofernes [reflective}. Who would despise 
these Hebrews that have among them such women 
as she? [Fiercely.^ Surely it is not good that 
one man among them should be left ; for if one 
were let go he might deceive the whole earth. 

Judith [advancing a step, appealingly}. Will 
the wise man cast away a pearl, and will my lord 
in anger lose his servant for ever? 

Bagoas [to Holofernes}. Let her not speak 
with my lord alone in my lord's tent. 

Judith. I will speak with the illustrious prince 
and with Bagoas also. [She smiles.} 

Holofernes [with a gesture}. I cannot lose 
thee. [To attendants.} Unbind her. 

Bagoas. May heaven be with us, for the woman 
is against us ! 

Holofernes [to Bagoas}. Veil her-, that her face 
and form be not seen as she passes to my tent, for 
she is mine. 

Bagoa^ [calling}. The veils! The veils! Where 
is the rascal? 
The attendant rushes in panting mth the box of 

veils. He is followed by Ingur. 

[Judith is elaborately veiled in a series of veils by 

Bagoas and his attendants}. 

Holofernes. Let her follow me. 
[Exeunt, r., with great ceremony, Holofernes and 
his heralds, followed by Judith.} 

Ingur [as they go, stopping Bagoas, who goes 
last}. Mightiness, pardon your slave. 



ACT II 55 

Bagoas. Well ? 

Iiigur [pointing to HaggitJi]. Your slave cap- 
tured the mistress. Reward him with this out- 
landish wench. 

Bagoas [carelessly^. The fool goeth out to 
seek his own damnation. Take her. 

CURTAIN. 

SCENE II. 

Interior of tlie tent of Holof ernes. A couch with 
curtains, t.. The principal entrance to the 
tent is at the back. Secondary entrances in 
the hangings, l. and r. 

Bagoas and his attendant are unveiling Judith. 

Time. — The same morning, later. 

Bagoas. Animal, wouldst thou dare to behold 
that which is thy lord's ? Leave the last veil, and 
away with thee. 

First Attendant. Yea, mightiness! 
[Eidt back mth the veils already removed from 
Judith.^ 

Bagoas. Queen of the night of Holofemes ! 

Judith [through the veil\. Mighty Bagoas! 

Bagoas. The Prince comes to look upon you 
in his tent. 

Judith. Mighty Bagoas, deign to answer a 
question I will put. 



56 JUDITH 

Bagoas. Deign to ask, lady, and my humility 
shall answer; for your beauty has blinded Holo- 
fernes this day and he is your captive, and his 
servant is your servant, and there is no law in 
the camps of the Assyrians save your glance. 
\^He makes a covert gesture of half-amused resent- 
ful resignation. '\ 

Judith. Nebuchadnezzar is your god? Is it 
not so, Bagoas? 

Bagoas. Nebuchadnezzar is henceforward the 
god of the Assyrians and of all the lands which 
their spears conquer. It is an official order. 

Judith. If Nebuchadnezzar laid a command 
upon you, would you disregard it? 

Bagoas. I would not, for my skin is very 
valuable to me. 

Judith. As Nebuchadnezzar is your god, so 
is the Lord of Israel mine. And my God laid a 
secret command upon me to speak with Prince 
Holofernes alone and with none other in his tent. 
Thus, and thus only, was it that I refused to 
speak in the presence even of the mighty Bagoas. 
But as I withstood you in the valley there, the 
God of Israel descended upon me and I heard 
the voice of God in my ear, and the voice said: 
"It is permitted to thee to speak with Bagoas 
also." Therefore I yielded to the importunity of 
Prince Holofernes and of Bagoas. 

Bagoas. Your God is a wise god and has dis- 
cernment. 



ACT II 57 

Judith. This I tell jou, that there may be 
peace and good intelligence between us. Is there 
peace between us? 

Bagoas. Lady, in my heat I admonished you 
with hard words and much vituperation. 

Judith \innocently'\. By Nebuchadnezzar, I 
heard none. 

Bagoas. There is peace between us. And in 
the closeness of our intelligence you and I will 
rule them that rule all Assyria. 

Enter Holof ernes, l. 
[^Bagoas prostrates himself. Holofernes walks 

about, ignoring Judith.^ 
Holof ernes [to Bagoas^. At what hour is the 
Council of Captains.? 

Bagoas. The Council awaits your highness. 
[^Suddenly Holof ernes snatches the veil from Ju- 
dith, and throws it on the floor. He gazes at 
her. Judith prostrates herself. Holof ernes 
drops on to the couch, and looks at every- 
thimg except Judith.^ 
Holof ernes [^imperiously^. Rise. [Judith 
rises. A pause. Holof ernes plays with a jewel on 
his costume. Without looking at Judith.l^ Achior.'' 
Judith. Illustrious Prince. 
Holof ernes. Did the slave reach Bethulia.? 
Judith. The men of Bethulia took him, and 
he declared to them all that he had spoken to my 
lord Prince. And many approved him. 

Holof ernes. And what sayest thou of Achior? 



68 JUDITH 

Judith. O lord and governor, I say: Reject 
not the word of Achior, but lay it up in your 
heart. 

Holof ernes. Thou art bold. 

Judith. The word of Achior is true. For the 
Israelites shall not be punished, and the sword 
shall not prevail against them, except they sin 
against their God. 

Holof ernes. Not even my sword? 

Judith. Not even the sword of my lord and 
governor, except they sin against their God. 
[With significance.^ But they will sin. 

Holof ernes. Ah ! They will sin ? In what 
will they sin.? 

Judith. Death is fallen upon them, and they 
will provoke their God to anger, for their water 
is scant, and they faint in their thirst ; and they 
will drink the holy wine which was sanctified and 
reserved for the priests who serve before the face 
of our God: which thing is not lawful for any of 
the people so much as to touch with their hands. 

Holof ernes. What has all this to do with me? 
There is no god but Nebuchadnezzar. 

Judith. It touches my lord and governor, be- 
cause, knowing all this, I am fled from Bethulia, 
which shall be accurst; and the God of Israel has 
sent me to work things with my lord and governor 
whereat the whole earth shall be astonished. 

Holof ernes [looking at her, interested]^. What 
things.? And what have I to do with thy god? 



ACT II 59 

I need not thy god, for after the Israelites have 
drunk their wine they will thirst again; and when 
the city is broken with fainting, it will fall safe 
into my hands while I sit and watch. 

Judith [with f,re'\. And when the city has 
fallen while the Assyrians sit and watch, and when 
all men whisper one to another that the greatest 
captain of the earth conquered by a device because 
he dared not attack boldly with spear, and bow, 
and sling — in that day will my lord and governor 
be content? Or will he be ashamed, and blush to 
lift up his eyes ? 

Holof ernes [disturbed^. It is a true word. 

Bagoas. It is a true word. 

Holof ernes [savagely'\. This day will I attack 
the city and take it, and though I make fifty 
thousand widows and orphans in Assyria. I will 
compass Bethulia, and not one house in it shall be 
left standing, nor one Israelite alive. 

Judith [shaking her head slo'wly'\. Why is my 
lord against the pleasure of the Most High? Do 
I not say, and has it not been revealed to me, that 
Bethulia shall not perish until its inhabitants have 
sinned before God? Listen, illustrious Prince, I 
will remain this night. And when the time comes 
I will go into the valley, and I will pray to God, 
and mayhap he will tell me when the Israelites in 
Bethulia have committed their sin. And I will 
come and show it to you, and thereupon my lord 



60 JUDITH 

and governor shall go forth with all his army, 
and none shall resist him. 

Holof ernes \Jascmated'\. Thou wUt come to 
me when the time is at hand for my triumph ! 

Judith. And hearken further! I will lead my 
lord and governor in the midst of Judea, until he 
comes to Jerusalem ; and I will set his throne in 
the midst of Jerusalem, and a dog shall not so 
much as open his mouth at my lord and prince. 
For these things were declared unto me from on 
high, and I am sent to tell them. 

Holof ern£s \^aside to Bagoas, excitedli/]. There 
is not such a woman from one end of the earth 
to the other, both for beauty of face and wisdom 
of words. 

Bagoas. It may well be so. Prince. But I 
have not seen the whole earth. 

Holof ernes \^to Judith^. Thou hast done well 
to come to me, that strength may be in my hands 
and destruction upon them that lightly regard 
Nebuchadnezzar, the one god. Thou art ravish- 
ing in countenance, and if thou do as thou hast 
spoken, thou shalt dwell in my house which is 
over against the house of King Nebuchadnezzar, 
and thou shalt be renowned through the east and 
through the west. Bagoas, prepare meat and 
wine for her. 

Bagoas [m-aking as if to give an order'\. To 
hear is to obey. 

Judith. I will not eat of my lord's meat, nor 



ACT II 61 

drink of his wine, lest there be offence; I have 
brought provision by my waiting-woman. 

Bagoas. But if thy provision fail? 

Judith ^significantly^. My provision will not 
fail before the Lord works by my hand the things 
which he has determined. 

Bagoas claps his hands. Enter an attendant. 

Bagoas. Fetch Haggith, the waiting-woman 
of the lady Judith ! Quickly ! ^Exit attendant. 
To Holof ernes. 1 Prince, shall the Hebrew woman 
eat and drink of her provision in my lord's tent? 

Holofernes. She shall eat and drink in my 
tent, and she shall not leave it. 

Bagoas. Then it is right that my lord remains 
not. And moreover the Council humbly waits 
for my lord. [^Eocit Holofernes, l.] 

Bagoas [#o Judith, as he follows Holofernes^. 
Did I not say that you and I shall rule them that 
rule Assyria? ^Exit l.] 

Enter Haggith, back, with provisions. 

Haggith [excited, looking round to see if they 
are alone^. Mistress! Is it possible? 

Judith. What has taken thee? 

Haggith. Is this the tent of the monster? 

Judith. Hush ! 

Haggith [whispering^. It is greater and more 
magnificent than the temple at Bethulia. [Look- 
ing into a corner^. But unclean. Have they no 
besoms? . . . Ah! [Looking up at the roof.^ 
The bigness of it makes me small Hke a child 



62 JUDITH 

before it can walk. I could not live comfortably 
in such a great windy place. No ! I prefer our 
own house to all this royalty. 

Judith. Give me food, Haggith. Where hast 
thou been? [Site sits.^ 

Haggith. Mistress, I have been with the man 
Ingur! [Arranging Judith's costume, and then 
setting out the food and wine.^ In obedience to 
your command. At Bethulia, being busied all my 
days with the ordering of your possessions, I had 
no time for traffic with men ; neither desire. And I 
deemed them terrible and masterful creatures. 
And when you commanded me to go forth into 
the camps and delude and entangle with wiles 
whatever Assyrian I should meet, I was afraid. 
For it was in my heart that I could not accom- 
plish this thing. Yet I have done it prettily. 
And it is easier to me far than sweeping with a 
besom. Either all men are simpletons and be- 
sotted with self-conceit, or Ingur exceeds greatly 
in folly. I have been given to him for his slave, 
but he is mine and knows it not. [She sits.^ 

Judith. Where hast thou left him? 

Haggith. Mistress, I would not suffer that you 
should pass from my sight, and I followed you, 
and Ingur followed me gladly, and at last the 
guard seized him for that he was found within 
the precincts of the prince's quarter, which is for- 
bidden to his rank, and many stripes will be his. 
Mistress, you eat not. 



ACT II 63 

Judith [^trying to eatj. Yes, I eat. Do thou 
eat for me. 

Haggith. I have eaten and drunk — with 
Ingur. 

Judith. But not of his provision? 

Haggith [^nodding^. He so softly entreated 
me. 

Judith. It is a sin and an offence for thee, 
being an Israelite. 

Haggith. For such as my high-born mistress, 
it is an offence. But for the handmaid — pooh! 
She eats as she can, and the Lord turneth away 
his glance until she has finished her platter. 
Moreover, did you not lay it upon me to beguile 
the dolt,'' And verily, mistress, I have rejoiced 
much this day ; and Ingur 

Judith. Silence with thy prattle. Bethink 
thee of the dread business upon which I am come 
down from Bethulia into the valley? 

Haggith {^subdued; offering food^. Eat, mis- 
tress. 

Judith. I cannot. My soul rejects it, and my 
body is on fire with expectation and suspense. 
l^Rising. Haggith also rises. 1 Stay thou where 
thou art, for I will go forth alone. I must com- 
mune with the God of Israel for my tranquillity, 
and I dare not seek him in the tent of the 
heathen. J[Exit, back.'] 

{^Haggith gathers the meat together.] 
Enter Holof ernes and Bagoas, l. 



64 JUDITH 

Holof ernes [looTivng about the tent, alarmed^. 
Where is she? Has she fled? If she has escaped 
me, this shall be thy last day, Bagoas. What 
is this girl here? 

Bagoas. Prince, has any woman yet slipped 
through these hands? This girl is the waiting 
wench af the lady Judith. [To Haggith-I Where 
is thy mistress, wench? 

Haggith [frightened and fooUshl. My mistress 
having eaten . . . having eaten naught, is gone 
to — to — to — pray. 

Bagoas. Bring her. Her god may wait, but 
not the illustrious Prince. Run with both thy 
legs. 

Haggith. Ye — es, mightiness. \^Eint, back.^ 

Holof ernes. Bagoas, with thine arts thou shalt 
persuade the Hebrew woman to come to us and 
to eat and drink with us this night. 

Bagoas '[grimJi/^. Persuasion shall be used, 
highness. My arts are many and various. 

Holof ernes. It will be a shame for our person 
if we let such a woman go, not having delighted 
in her company. If we do not draw her to us 
she will laugh us to scorn. 

Bagoas. Yea, highness. But my lord has but 
this moment appointed a great feast with his 
captains at sunset. How then shall he eat and 
drink with lady Judith? 

Holof ernes. Thick-skull! Speak not to me 
of my captains ! The Council of the Captains 



ACT II 65 

was as dust in my mouth, and I could not away 
with it. Therefore I sharply dismissed the coun- 
cil, and soothed their damnable pride with the 
promise of a mighty feast. But what care I for 
the captains? My heart thirsts horribly for this 
Hebrew woman, and I am full of a great madness. 

Bagoas. So be it, highness. Nevertheless, the 
Prince has promised to his captains a mighty 
feast, and the word of Holofernes is a rock that 
cannot be shaken. 

Holofernes. Oh! What a calamity is love! 
And there is no slave so trodden down as him 
that is the slave of desire. . . . Bah! I will eat 
and drink quickly with the captains, and the 
woman shall await me here. 
Enter Judith^ hack. On seeing Holofernes she 
prostrates herself. 

Holofernes. Arise, sorceress. [Judith arises. 
To Bagoas^. Go fetch leopard skins for her re- 
pose. 

Bagoas. I will send for the skins on the instant, 
highness. 

Holofernes. Thou wilt go thyself to fetch 
them, elephant. And come not back without the 
finest skins in my wardrobe. See to it. 

[Exit Bagoas, back.^ 

Holofernes. Come closer. [Judith oheys.^ 
Look into my eyes. [Judith oheys.^ Sorceress, 
thou knowest thy power. 



66 JUDITH 

Judith. I have no power, save that which is 
given to me from on high. 

Holof ernes. Thou wast praying to thy god? 

Judith. Yea, highness. 

Holofernes. Didst thou demand of him that 
he should tell thee if the Israelites in Bethulia had 
committed their sin, and if the time of my triumph 
was at hand.? 

Judith. No, lord. I prayed for the forgive- 
ness of the trangressions of thy handmaid. 

Holofernes. Why didst thou not demand of 
him what I ask thee.? 

Judith. Who am I to hasten the God of Israel? 
In the night time, and in the darkness, when all 
men sleep, — then it is that my God condescends to- 
wards me, and my ear hears his secret purposes. 

Holofernes \_lotii]. This night? 

Judith. Who can search out heaven? 

Holofernes. This night? 

Judith. It may be. 

Holofernes. And thou wilt come to me in the 
night and tell me thy message? 

Judith. I will come to thee in the night, great 
prince. 

Holofernes. And thou wilt eat and drink with 
me in my triumph? 

Judith [after a pause'\. If it pleases my lord. 

Holofernes. Thou wilt eat of my meat and 
drink of my wine, which I will give thee? 

Judith [after a pause^. If my lord is alone and 



ACT II 67 

there is none with him. For it is not right that 
any should see me. 

Holof ernes. I will be alone. But Bagoas shall 
stand at the door of the hut. 

Judith. As my lord wills. 

Holof ernes {^ecstatic, moving a little towards 
her; she responds^. Fairest among women! Can 
it be ! . . . The way of God is wondrous. 
[^ half -veiled Assyrian woman appears through 
the hangings r., and watches.^ 

Judith \^solemnly and significantly^ . There are 
yet hid greater things than this, and thou hast 
yet seen but a few of his works. 

Holofernes [^sinking back on the couch, myste- 
riously afraid^ . Sorceress ! 

[^The watcher disappears.^ 

Judith [cooingly],. Does my lord shrink from 
his handmaid? 

[Holofernes stretches his hands to her.l 

CURTAIN. 

SCENE III. 

Scene — The same. 

Wine and food are set by the couch. 

A lamp is burning. 

Time. — The same night. 

Bagoas \^at back entrance to tent, calling to 
people off^. To your beds, all of you. Let none 



68 JUDITH 

remain. [He stands a moment at the entrance; a 
few distant shouts are heard; then silence. Ba- 
goas comes within the tent towards tJie couch. 
To Holofernes.^ The waiters are gone, Prince. 
There is no one left to disturb the night. 

Holof ernes. Hast thou seen her? 

Bagoas [after a pause^. No, prince. 

Holof ernes. But didst thou look? 

Bagoas. I looked, O illustrious. 

Holof ernes. Is there moonlight? 

Bagoas. The moon is clouded, highness. 

Holofernes. Give me wine. [Bagoas obeys.'} 
Bagoas ! 

Bagoas. Prince? 
[The hangings of the tent, r., haUoon inwards a 
lit tie. 1 

Holofernes [looking behind him sharply, spill- 
ing some wine} . The wind is rising. 

Bagoas. It is but a night breeze. 

Holofernes [as he drinks gloomily}. Bagoas, 
she has escaped back to her own people. 

Bagoas [aside}. I would she had, the jade! 
[To Holofernes.} Prince, she cannot escape. 
Every path from the valley is guarded. 

Holofernes. What guard could restrain such 
a woman? 

Bagoas. Ah! Prince! What guard could 
restrain her? 

Holofernes. Dost thou echo me? 



ACT II 69 

Bagoas. I humbly think the thought of his 
highness. 

Holof ernes. Do thy thinking outside. 
[Bagoas hows and moves towards the entrance. 
Judith is standing there. The two look at 
each other for a moment. 1 

Bagoas \^with a gesture, indicating Judith^. 
Highness ! 

Holof ernes [jumping up. To Bagoas^. Be- 
gone to thy post ! 

[Judith glides in silently. Bagoas goes out. They 
pass by each other without a word or a salu/- 
tation, but mutually scrutinizing.]^ 

Judith. The great feast of the captains is 
over ? 

Holofernes. The captains are departed, 
drunken with wine and their pride. But thy feast 
and my feast is not begun. [Points to the re- 
past.] 

Judith [^enigmatically]. I am here. 

Holofernes [ecstatic]. Art thou in truth here, 
or do my eyes behold that which is not? 

Judith.. Did I not say that I should come in 
the night? 

Holofernes. Yea, I trusted thee. I trusted 
thee so much that at the feast of the captains I 
commanded that all my hosts shall attack Bethu- 
lia, with bow, and sling, and spear, at sunrise, 
and also I gave the word of Holofernes for a 
pledge that naught in the heavens or on the earth 



70 JUDITH 

should resist the onset of the Assyrians ; for some 
among them feared the word of Achior which they 
had heard. 

Judith. You have not done this thing? 

Holof ernes. I have done it. 

Judith. Would you forestall God, and would 
you speak the decrees of God before they are 
uttered ? 

Holofernes. Thou saidst thou wouldst pray 
to thy God this night and that he would tell thee 
when the Israelites in Bethulia had committed 
their sin, and that thou would come to me to 
proclaim the hour of my triumph. 

Judith. I said : I will pray to God and mayhap 
he will tell me. 

Holofernes. Thou hast prayed, and thy God 
hath not answered? 

Judith. He has not answered. 

Holofernes \^mth bravado^. He is no god, 
then, thy God. Let us drink. 

Judith [«5 Holofernes moves towards her, 
solemnly^. Touch not your handmaid, and touch 
not the goblet. \_She goes to the skins, r.] 

Holofernes [^follo'wi7ig Judith gentli/'\. Thou 
art offended. 

Judith. Stand afar off, Holofernes, and med- 
dle not with her that communes with the Most 
High. 

\_ Judith kneels. Holofernes goes in the direction 
of the couch. Silence. Bagoas has been seen 



ACT II 71 

once or twice in the porch of the tent, his 
back turned. He has now gone again. Two 
half -veiled Assyrian women appear through 
the hangings, r., and watch a moment^ then 
vanish. Judith slowly rises.^ 

Holof ernes. What has befallen thee? 

Judith. It has befallen me that this moment 
the God of Israel has spoken and my ear' has 
heard his command. ^^Approaching Holof ernes.^ 

Holof ern£s. What saith thy God? 

Judith. My ear has heard that the Israelites 
in Bethulia have committed their sin, and at sun- 
rise the Assyrians shall assault Bethulia and none 
shall withstand them. 

Holof ernes. A miracle ! 

Judith. A miracle in thy tent, O great war- 
rior ! 

Holof ernes. To-morrow is appointed to be 
the day of my triumph. 

Judith l^moved^. Yea, it is so. 

Holof ern£'s [gratefully'\. Hear me, Judith. 
Thy God shall be my God. 

Judith. In truth thou art set apart to be his. 

Holof ernes {^close to her'\. Thy body trembles. 

Judith [smiling^. Thinkst thou then that I 
was not afraid for thee? But my fear is gone 
from me, for now I know thy fate and the decree 
of heaven concerning thee. 

Holof ernes \^aside^. To-morrow is appointed 
for my triumph, but this night also shall I exult. 



72 JUDITH 

[To Judith.'] Let us eat and drink together, for 
we are alone in the night, and thou hast promised. 
Judith ]igail7/]. Let us feast. 
Holof ernes ^animated hy her responsive tone]. 
Take off thy tunic; thou art in thy own house. 
Let Holof ernes be thy tire-woman. \^Approach- 
ing her.] 

Judith. No ! \^Mo'ving from him to the further 
side of the couch.] But he shall be my slave to 
serve me. Pour out the wine, great slave. 
[^While Holof ernes cheerfully obeys, Judith takes 
the knife from her garments and places it 
behind the couch. Then, as he stands with 
the wine, gazing at her and separated from 
her only by the couch, she slowly removes 
her tu/nic and appears in indoor attire. She 
comes towards him and takes the wine from 
Mm and drinks.] 
Holofernes. I feared that in the strictness of 
thy Hebrew scruples thou wouldst not drink of 
my wine. 

Judith. I will drink again. [^She does so.] 
Holofernes [taking the goblet and drinking]. 
Dost thou verily know thy power and thy do- 
minion, Judith? 

Judith [simply]. Yes, I know it now better 
than thou. 

Holofernes. Thou dost not. For I am mad 
for thee, and thou hast set thy seal upon me for 
evermore. My heart cannot hold thee, for thou 



ACT II 73 

hast filled it to overflowing, and all men see that 
my heart is full of thee and runneth over. Yea, 
I have a hundred and two and thirty thousand 
that bow themselves at my feet and that live and 
die by my glance. And I am at thy feet and thy 
glance is my joy and my sorrow according to thy 
whim. Judith, I entreat thee, command me some- 
thing. For whatever thou command me that will 
I execute. And be not afraid in thy command, 
for my power is very great and there is none like 
it save only my lord Nebuchadnezzar's. 

Judith [tenderli/]^. I command thee that thou 
be happy. For thy captive has no other desire. 

Holofernes. Say not my captive. For it is I 
that am thy prisoner. And I will set thee on my 
throne, and in my great boldness I will dare to 
sit beside thee. But thou shalt reign. And we will 
live together in Assyria long years. 

Judith \_changing her mood^. There is no re- 
quisition in the grave whether you have lived ten 
or an hundred or a thousand years. But the God 
of Israel is a shield. 

Holof ernes [eagerly^. And I have told thee 
that thy God shall be my God; but in secret, 
because of that which I owe to King Nebuchad- 
nezzar. Yet shall the whole earth know that thou, 
Judith, alone art my god. 

Judith. But thou hast other wives. 

Holof ernes. No ! 

Judith. Yes ! It has been whispered to me 



74. JUDITH 

that thou hast many wives, and concubines with- 
out number. 

Holofernes. It is a lie. For from this night 
I have put away from me all women but thee, 
and there is not one among them to compare with 
thee. [Appealingli/.'] And since the judgment of 
heaven hath done a miracle by thee in the tent of 
Holofernes this night, wilt thou deny, O tender- 
ness! that thou hast been divinely appointed to 
me, and I to thee? 

Judith. I will not deny that the Lord is in 
this thing. And for thy comfort I will tell thee 
that which thou knowest riot. 

Holofernes [expectant^. Tell me. 

Judith. Before I escaped from Bethulia, as I 
lay on my bed, a vision came to me, and it was 
the vision of Holofernes in the likeness of his 
majesty and his might. And I saw the vision by 
my bed, and so it was that I came down into the 
valley. . . . {^SoftlT/.l And wouldst thou that I 
should have uttered this secret to any but thee! 

Holofernes [full of emotion'\. I will kiss thy 
lips, and thou art mine, O fragrance! 

Judith. Kiss my lips. 
[Holofernes kisses her, and then in an excess of 

feeling stumbles backward.^ 
[A half -veiled Assyrian woman appears at the 
opening r., and matches. Bagoas, in the porch 
of the tent, turns and sees her, and dashes 



ACT II 75 

at her with a meapon. Both disappear 
through the opening, b.] 

Judith [moving with stealth towards the hidden 
knife, comfortingly^. O mighty child, where is 
thy strength, and where is thy terribleness? Rest 
thee a moment on the couch, and thy soul's cap- 
tive will tend thee. 

[Holofernes drops on the couch, and Judith ca- 
resses him.^ 

Holof ernes [murmuring^. My great joy has 
overthrown me. 
[Judith, seizing the knife and leaning over Holo- 

f ernes, kills him while she is still caressing. '[ 

Judith [as she uses the knife; murmuringl^. 
Thou that wouldst go against the pleasure of the 
Most High! Thou that wouldst defile Judea! 
Thou that hast dishonoured with thy kiss the 
widow of Manasses ! Thou that hast compelled 
me to guile and deceit and much lying so that I 
might perform the will of God! The grave shall 
be thy house! 

Enter Haggith, l. 

Judith [turning to Haggith, firmly and impress- 
iiwly^. I have done that which I had to do, and 
the power of Assyria is fallen. [Pointing.^ Take 
the head by the beard, and put it in thy sack, and 
let us depart. 

CURTAIN. 



ACT III 

SCENE I. 
Scene. — Same as Act I. 

Time. — A few hours later than Act II, Scene III, 
the same night. The sole light is that of 
torches, and a watchfire [o^]. 

The gatemen are at the gates. 

There is a knocking on the outside of the gates. 

Enter First Soldier, running. 

First Soldier \^to a gateman, who is climbing up 
in order to look over the top of the gates^. Look 
not over, booby. Thy fool's face might meet the 
point of an Assyrian spear. [^The gateman slips 
down quickly.^ 

[Renewed knocking.l^ 

First Soldier {^shoutingl- None can enter the 
city till sunrise. And not then if I like not the 
aspect of his phiz. 

Haggith [o^]. It is Haggith, servant of the 
lady Judith. Open the gates quickly, for I am 
become a woman of much consequence. 

First Soldier. Haggith? It is the voice of 
Haggith; yet it may also be devils. [To another 
77 



78 JUDITH 

soldier who has entered.'] Run! Rouse the lord 
Ozias. [^Ewit soldier.'] 

Haggith. I have water with me. Many 
gourds ! Fresh water ! Cool water ! 

[The gatemen begin to work the gate-chains.] 

First Soldier. What do ye, dogs? Stop, and 
await the order of the Lord Ozias. 

Gatemen [continuing to work *^^^ chains]. 
Water ! Water ! 

First Soldier. Pull, then, dogs. If there is 
water and it is wet I will taste it. But if there is 
not water, I will slay the first soul that enters. 
[As the gates begin to open a little.] Hold ! No 
wider ! 

Enter Haggith with two gourds. 

[The gourds are snatched from her, and the men, 

including the First Soldier, drinl.] 

First Soldier [as he drinks]. Yea, it is indeed 
Haggith. Where is thy mistress, and whence 
comest thou, my beloved water-carrier, for thou 
art my beloved.'' [Haggith slaps his face.] 
Enter Ozias, l. 

Ozias [furious]. Why are the gates opened,? 
What is this.? 

First Soldier. Haggith, lord, with water that 
is stronger than wine. [Handing a gourd to Ozias 
to soothe him.] 

Ozias. Where is thy mistress, wench.? 
[Drinks.] 

Haggith [stiffly]. I am the forerunner of my 



ACT III 79 

mistress, who has sent me, and before many hours 
are passed the lady Judith will come also. {^SJie 
goes to the gates and becJcons.'\ 

Ozias. What art thou doing? 

Enter Ingur, bearing a sack. 

Voices. An Assyrian! An Assyrian! [^Men 
spring at Ingur.^ 

Haggitli. Let him alone; he is my bondman 
and I have tamed him. 

Ozias. Shut the gates, for I will enquire into 
this matter. 

Haggitli. There are yet ten other Assyrians 
outside the gates, carrying gourds for me. 

Ozias. Ten other Assyrians ! It is a trick ! 

Haggitli [proudly]. By my command they are 
chained by their necks, neck to neck. Fetch in 
the gourds, men, and give the people to drink. 
[The gourds are brought in amid cries and excite- 
ment. They are taken off, l.] 

Ozias. Shut the gates, I say. 

First Soldier. And the ten Assyrians, great 
lord? 

Ozias. Let them wait my enquiry where they 
stand. 

First Soldier. Lord Ozias, if they flee? 

Haggitli. Hold thy mouth, gaby ! Wouldst 
thou flee with thy neck chained to nine necks? 
Moreover, where will they flee? For the camps 
of the Assyrians are broken, and in their terrible 
confusion the Assyrians fall one upon another. 



80 JUDITH 

l^The gatemen talk among themselves and stare at 
the Assyrians outside, who cannot he seen by 
those within the city. The gates remain open 
a little.^ 

Ozias {i7npatiently^. What is thy tale, Hag- 
gith? 

Haggith. My mistress has slain Holofernes 
in his tent in the night, and the power of Assyria 
is undone. 

Ozias [astounded^. Slain Holofernes! Thou 
art mad in thy raving. 

Haggith \^to Ingur^. Open the mouth of the 
sack, and let my lord behold the head of Holo- 
fernes and see that I am mad. \^To soldier.^ A 
torch, that the Lord Ozias may discover the man- 
ner of my raving. 

\_Ozias looks into the sack and sees the head of 
Holofernes.'] 

Ozias. Great is the Lord of Israel ! 

Haggith. And my mistress is the right hand 
of the Lord. 

Ozias. Great is the Lord of Israel! 

Voices {^deeply moved]. His name shall live 
for ever. 

Ozias. How did thy mistress accomplish this 
mighty deed? 

Haggith. As for that, she will tell it to my 
lord with her own voice when she shall come. And 
now will my lord give ear to the commands of the 
lady Judith, which she doth lay upon my lord by 



ACT III 81 

me, Haggith? First, the head of Holof ernes shall 
be set upon a spear on the highest wall in the great 
square before the temple. So shall all the Israel- 
ites know that God yet watcheth over Israel. 
[To the soldiers.^ Take the sack and do as my 
lady hath ordained by me, Haggith. 

Ozias \^to men, who hesitate^. Take the sack. 
It is my command. 

{^Exeunt two men, l., with sacJc.^ 

Haggith. Next, ye shall send men for water 
to the wells beneath the city that all may drink, 
for already the Assyrians are fled from the wells, 
knowing that Holofemes is dead. And ye shall 
send forth all your army into the valley to fall 
upon the Assyrians, for they are afraid of the 
judgment of God, and none dare abide in the 
sight of his neighbour. Neither can they stand 
against the chosen race of God. 

Ozias l^to First Soldier'\. Let every armed man 
in the city be roused, and publish the order of 
Ozias that the Captains lead their bands swiftly 
into the valley by the secret way to fall upon the 
Assyrians. 

[Exit First Soldier and another, with joyous 
cries, l.] 

Haggith. Thus hath the lady Judith spoken 
by me, Haggith. 

Ozias. Whither is thy mistress gone, and why 
does she tarry.'' 

Haggith. My mistress is hidden in a sure 



82 JUDITH 

place in the valley, for there is one among the 
Assyrians who fears not God. And he is Bagoas, 
the chief eunuch of Holofemes, and he has sworn 
an oath to kill my mistress for that by guile she 
did cut off the head of Holofernes. And Bagoas 
searches for my mistress in the folds of the valley. 
But he will not find her. 

Odas [perturbed^. How knowst thou that he 
will not find her? 

Haggith. Because the Lord of Israel is a 
sharp sword and protecteth his servants. . . . 
And also because my mistress is most cunningly 
hidden. 

Enter Charmis, l. 

Charmis \^ joyously excited^. What is the mir- 
acle that I hear, Ozias? 

Ozias \hlandly'\. There is no miracle; but that 
which I had planned with the lady Judith has 
come to pass. Take women and old men, Char- 
mis, and go ye to the wells and bring water to 
the city, for the wells are delivered into my hands. 

Charmis [hesitating^. Women and old men.'' 
But the onslaught against the Assyrians of which 
I hear.'* 

Ozias [imperiously^. Go quickly. For who is 
the governor of this city? Is it thou or is it I? 

[Exit Charmis, l.] 
[Men and women have gathered joyously in the 
street.^ 

Voices [mockingly, indicating Ingur, with a 



ACT III 83 

teridency to horseplay^. The Assyrian! The 
Assyrian I 

Ozias. Take him to the guard house and chain 
him to Achior. 

Haggith, He shall not go, Lord Ozias. For 
as my mistress beguiled Holofernes, so did I be- 
guile Ingur, and he is my slave. But I have not 
cut off his head, and he is dear to me because I 
have not cut off his head. And he is mine, and 
let none touch him {loohmg at the soldiers^, or my 
anger, which is the anger of the lady Judith, shall 
be upon that man. [^Hearing a noise, she glances 
at the house.'\ What do I see? The sluts are in 
the tent of my mistress, which is forbidden them. 
Out, sluts ! \^Exit angrily into the house.^ 

{Ingur follows her quicMy for protection.^ 
Enter Messenger. 

Ozias. And you? 

Messenger {saluting^. Do my eyes behold the 
great lord Ozias, governor of Bethulia? 

Ozias. Your eyes behold him. 

Messenger. It is not yet dawn, nevertheless 
the streets of the city are full of a great going and 
coming, but I found none to lead me to the house 
of the lord Ozias. Yet when I saw my lord's 
visage my heart said : "This is he." 

Ozias. What is your affair with me? 

Messenger. I am a messenger. 

Ozias [curtly^. Speak quickly, for the govern- 
ment of this city in this hour is no common mat- 



84 JUDITH 

ter, and the whole charge of it lies upon me. 

Messenger. And I am no common messenger. 
I come with wings through the night from Jeru- 
salem, from Joachim, the high priest. 

Ozias. Ah! {^Changing his tone and beckon- 
ing the messenger aside.^ What tidings do you 
bear? 

Messenger. I bear tlie licence from Joachim. 

Ozias. What licence? 

Messenger. The licence for the people of Beth- 
ulia to drink the wine which is sanctified and re- 
served to the priests which serve the Lord. 

Ozias [affecting to be puzzled^. Who hath 
demanded this licence from Joachim? 

Messenger \^surprised^. The lord Ozias sent a 
messenger to Jerusalem to beseech that the licence 
should be granted. And my lord's messenger 
travelled so swiftly that in the moment when he 
reached the temple at Jerusalem he fell sick and 
vomited, and I have come to Bethulia in his place, 
for after he had vomited he unfolded to me the 
secret way into the city. 

Ozias \^grandly^. It is true. In the heavy 
multitude of my cares I had forgotten this mat- 
ter of the licence. 

Messenger [conftdentiaUi/]. And Joachim hath 
bidden me to say privily that if any have already 
in their extremity drunk of the sanctified wine it 
shall be denied utterly — for the sake of the 
church. 



ACT III 85 

Ozias, Ah ! 

Messenger. And here is the licence. {Offer- 
ing itJ\ 

Ozias. Friend, keep the licence and render it 
back to Joachim, the high priest in Jerusalem. 
For I need It not, and I demanded it only by 
excess of prudence such as becomes the governor 
of a city besieged and thirsting. But we Bethu- 
lians are a faithful and a constant people, and we 
have trusted in the Most High. And If perchance 
any have drunk of the sanctified wine unknown 
to me [with a grimace'] — It shall be denied utter- 
ly, for the sake of seemllness. 

Messenger. But In the days of trial to come, 
will not the lord Ozias have need of the licence? 

Ozias [grandl]/]. Friend, return ye to Joa- 
chim and say to him that the Lord has delivered 
Bethulia from the Assyrians by the sublety of his 
servant Ozias. 

Messenger [amazed]. What says my lord? 

Ozias. Yea, this night the head of Holofernes 
Is set on a spear in the square before the temple, 
and the Assyrians flee one from another in dis- 
order, and my hosts are about to descend upon 
them and rend them to pieces where they stand 
foolishly in. the valley. 

Messenger. But this thing is marvellous be- 
yond the understanding of man ! 

Ozias. It is indeed marvellous. 

Messenger. And when Joachim enquires of me 



86 JUDITH 

who hath taken Holofernes the great Captain to 
behead him, and by what device, what shall I an- 
swer to Joachim? 

Ozias. You will answer that Ozias, knowing 
tlie weakness of Holofernes, sent down to him 
secretly a woman, a certain Judith of Bethulia, 
and upon the counsel of Ozias the woman by wiles 
compassed the death of Holofernes as I have told 
you. 

Messenger. It is a tale which fathers shall tell 
to their children, and to their children's children, 
and men shall wonder thereat for all time. And 
now your servant will say to you a thing which 
has not been told to him but which his ear has 
heard. The lord Ozias will receive notable ad- 
vancement, and he will be raised up among the 
great ones of Judea, because the lord Ozias has 
saved Judea from the heathen. [^Ozias hows.^ 
Yet will Joachim not be astonished, for it was 
spoken in Jerusalem that among all the Israelites 
there is none like the lord Ozias for cunning and 
obstinacy in defence. 

Ozias [^nettled^. Nevertheless it is meet that 
Joachim should be astonished, for with five thou- 
sand have I set at naught one hundred and two 
and thirty thousand, and in the chronicles of 
Israel there is written down no deed to match 
the delivery of Judea from the Assyrians. 

Messenger. The god of Israel hath saved Is- 
rael, 



ACT III 87 

Ozias. The God of Israel hath saved Israel, — 
by my hand. Go ye, and when you have eaten 
and drunk, set ye forth again for Jerusalem. 

\_TJie Messenger salutes and eccit, l.] 
[^Throughout this scene excited and joyous men 
and women frequently pass the street in twos 
and threes. 1 
[Dawn is breaking and the torches begin to 
pale.^ 
Enter Haggith and Ingur from the house. 
Ozias. Where art thou going? 
Haggith. Lord Ozias, I came up from the 
valley to bring water, and to give tidings. Now 
I go down again to the valley with Ingur and his 
men to seek out my mistress, and to take new 
raiment to her, and lead her to the city ; for since 
the Israelites are fallen upon the Assyrians, my 
mistress is no longer in danger. 
Enter Achior. 
Ozias. Slave, who hath dared to loose thee? 
Achior. There was none left to guard, and I 
came forth. 

Ozias [to a soldier"]. Seize this fellow and 
bind him with fetters. 

[The torches are by this time extinguished.] 

Haggith. Lord, it cannot be so. For the 

lady Judith commanded me to bring Achior also, 

for her protection, seeing that the youth came 

from the Assyrians at the bidding of the God of 



88 JUDITH 

Israel to give comfort to Israel, and for a sign to 
my mistress. 

Ozias [after a pause'\. I also will go with you, 
for it is right that the governor should do hon- 
our to the lady Judith. 

Haggith. My mistress commanded me to say 
to the lord Ozias that he should remain in the 
city to prepare for her a welcome. [She points 
to the gates and Achior gladly moves forward. 
She takes Ingur hy the ear.^ Bestir thy legs, 
booby ! 

Ozias. The sublety of women is past know- 
ing. 

Haggith [at the gates, 7naUciously'\. It may 
be. But would the lord Ozias invite the displeas- 
ure of my mistress? It is day. Let my lord sit 
in the sun. 

CURTAIN. 

SCENE II. 
Scene — The same. 

Charmis is alone at the open gates. Glimpses are 
caught of the people beyond the gates. 

Time. — Afternoon of the same day. 

Chabris [entering to Charmis, at the gates^. 
They say there is now much water in Bethulia. 



ACT III 89 

Charmis. Seeing that I have tolled mightily 
seven hours this day in charge of six score crazy 
carriers to carry water up from the wells ! Would 
that Ozias had granted me a whip to sharpen their 
brains ! And now Ozias hath left me in charge 
of the gates. 

Chabris. Where is Ozias, and what does he 
do? 

Charmis, He stands here beyond the gates to 
receive Judith and the women who have gone 
forth to meet her. 

Chabris. What is the deed of Judith? [The 
noise of an approaching procession is heard. 
Charmis, ignoring Chabris, goes a little outside 
the gates to watch. Chabris continues in a louder 
voice.^ The streets of the city are empty. I 
say the streets of the city are empty. 

Charmis. Dodderer! The whole city is afoot 
on the hill-side, and all the Assyrians left alive 
are fled in panic into the East. 

Chabris. Then I will return to my house and 
drink again. No ! I will remain, and my eyes 
shall regard the women, as of old. 
Enter through the gates a procession of women, 
waving branches. At the end of the proces- 
sion come Haggith and Ingur, and finally 
Judith, with Achior on one hand, and Ozias 
on the other. Townspeople and soldiers, gar- 
landed, follow the procession. 



90 JUDITH 

Ballet 

Ozias {to Jiidith']. O daughter, blessed be 
thou above all the women of the earth. Thou 
art the exaltation of Jerusalem and the great 
glory of Israel, for the Lord hath directed thee to 
the cutting off of the head of the chief of our 
enemies, and thou hast revenged our ruin. 

Voices. So be it. 

Judith. Holofernes came out of the moun- 
tains from the north, and his horsemen covered 
the hills ; and he bragged that he would bum up 
the borders of Israel, and kill her young men 
with the sword, and make the virgins as a spoil. 
But the Almighty Lord hath disappointed the As- 
syrians by the hand of a woman ; and my sandals 
ravished the eye of Holofernes, and my beauty 
took his mind prisoner, and the knife passed 
through his neck. Let all creatures serve the 
Lord! 

Voices. So be it! 

Ozias. Charmis, I appoint you to lead the 
people to the Temple, where are the banners of 
the Assyrians, which we have captured this day, 
and each woman shall take a banner, and all shall 
return to this place before the house of the Lady 
Judith. 

Charmis {swollen with pride"]. I obey, lord 
Ozias. 



ACT III 91 

l^The procession begins to move away, l. Hag- 
gith displays her importance and bullies In- 
gur, who accompanies her.^ 

Rahel \^to Chabris^. What, grandad! You 
are abroad once more ! \^She takes him with her 
like a disobedient child.^ 

\_Exeunt, processionaUy, all except Judith, Ozias 
and Achior.l 

Ozias [to Achior^. Thou goest not with the 
people ? 

Judith \^to AchiorJ. Stay, I pray you, Achior. 

Ozias [/o Judith, with growing excitement^. I 
wish to speak privily with the lady Judith, now! 

Judith. Let us speak here. 

Ozias. Shall we not go into your house, you 
and I? 

Judith. My house is not ready to receive you, 
Ozias. 

Ozias. Let it be so. But before Achior I 
will not speak. 

Judith. Achior, go into my house, and do hon- 
our to my dwelling, and repose in it. 

Achior. Gladly, O lady! 

\_Exit into the house.^ 

Judith. What is the urgency that oppresses 
you, Ozias, and why are you troubled in the hour 
of triumph? 

Ozias {^losing control of himself^. Who is the 
heathen Achior that you should prefer him and 
make your mouth sweet to him.'* 



92 JUDITH 

Judith. Leave Achior, and let us come at once 
to the matter that presses. 

Ozias. Oh! I will not speak smoothly for a 
pretence ! Thou knowest that my jealousy smokes 
against Achior. Yea, and against Holofernes 
also. 

Judith. But Holofernes is dead. 

Ozias. Before he went down to his place, didst 
thou not sin with him? 

Judith. As the Lord liveth, my countenance 
deceived him to his destruction, yet did he not 
shame me. 

Ozias. Blessed be our God ! 

Judith. But how does this matter touch thee, 
and what is my virtue in thy regard? 

Ozias. Let Holofernes suffice thee, and drive 
not me also to death with the softness of thy 
voice. Art thou not aware that the soul of my 
soul burns for thee and will not wait — the more 
so since thou hast done a mighty deed and art 
proved a woman beyond all women? 

Judith. Nay ! I have done naught ; but the 
Lord hath saved Israel by thy hand. 

Ozias. What is this humbleness? 

Judith. As I came towards the city with Achi- 
or, the messenger from Jerusalem met us in the 
way, and he was full to bursting of the word of 
Ozias, and that Ozias had delivered Israel, and 
that what I did I did by thy device and at thy 
command. But the messenger in speaking knew 



ACT III 93 

not that he spoke to Judith, and I let him go. 

Ozias. Judith 

Judith. Yet it seems to me that thou wast 
ignorant of all that which I went out to do, and 
my plan was hidden from thee. 

Ozias [pomerfttUy persuasive^. Hearken to 
me, Judith. I swear it was for thee that I boasted. 
My aim was that thy mighty deed should gain 
preferment in Jerusalem. But thou art a woman 
and therefore preferment is not for thee. Yet 
now by reason of my boasting I shall be greatly 
advanced and lifted jup, and in all Judea there 
will be none higher than me, and thus wilt thou 
also be advanced and lifted up. 

Judith. I desire no preferment. 

Ozias. But I would have it in thy behalf ; and 
my appetite is double. I rage for glory and do- 
minion, and I rage also for thee. And I will offer 
thee glory and dominion, for I seek these things 
as a gift to thy beauty. And if I cannot lay 
them on thy lap my heel shall spurn mankind 
and I will tread it to dust. My desires are ter- 
rible; they will not be withstood; they consume 
me daily, but daily I am renewed. I am on fire, 
but by the fierceness of the fire I am strengthened. 
I was conceived for greatness and my mother 
bore me for mastery, and the huge earth shall 
shake with the terror of my commands. . . . And 
I am held between thy fingers. 

Judith. I deny not thy greatness. 



94. JUDITH 

Ozias. Surely thou canst not. For thou too 
art great. And my greatness yearns to thine. 

Judith. Wilt thou listen? 

Ozias. I hear. 

Judith. With this greatness of thine goes de- 
ceit and laxity of mind. 

Ozias. Yet when thou didst thy mighty deed 
didst thou not deceive cruelly? 

Judith. I deceived not for myself, but for 
Israel; and my guile was for the glory of God. 
But thy heart is set only upon advancement and 
power, which is corruption. 

Ozias. Judith, canst thou not lift thy 
thoughts beyond good and evil, and canst thou not 
contemplate the marvellous greatness of man? I 
will abase myself before none but thee, and in my 
ear there is no commandment but thine; and all 
other decrees will I mock. I would have thee in 
marriage, and I would have no other but thee. 
Wilt thou take me to thee, and wilt thou yield 
thyself without fear to the terrible flame of my 
love? For thus shalt thou fulfil thyself and me. 
But give heed before thou answerest, and know 
that if thou turnest from me, I will make all the 
nations of the earth to tremble with my fury. 

Judith. Thou art great also in thy loving. 

Ozias. Once thou didst love me. 

Judith. Nay! I but looked upon thee in 
kindness. But now I will not go to thee in mar- 
riage. 



ACT III 95 

Ozias [^Iialf admiring^. Thou art not then 
afraid of my wrath ! 

Judith. I am Judith. 

Ozias [with a fresh access of violence^. Thou 
hungerest for Achior. Wouldst thou marry a 
heathen, thou a Hebrew woman? 

Judith. And thou, if I had not accomplished 
the will of the Lord, and if thou hadst been car- 
ried to Babylon as thou saidst, wouldst thou not 
have denied the Most High and gone after other 
gods? But Achior believeth in our God, and this 
day will be joined into the house of Israel. 

Ozias [savageli/ scornful^. What is Achior 
but a simpleton! 

Judith. It may be. But I love him and he 
shall rule me . . . for he came hither for a sign 
from the Lord. 

Ozias [savagely resentfuX^. Oh! If I did not 
love thee, would I not undo thee! 

Judith, Thou ! Thou art Ozias, but I am she 
who cut off the head of a mightier than thou, 
even Holofemes in his tent. Go thy ways and 
fulfil greatness. As for me I will remain obedi- 
ently in my house, and truth and righteousness 
shall reign in my house. 

[The procession returns, the momen bearing the 
banners of the Assyrians. Achior enters from 
the house. ^ 

[Judith is crowned with olives. '\ 

Judith, And now let the priests and the eld- 



96 JUDITH 

ers enter with me into my house, and Achior shall 
follow them, so that he may be received into Is- 
rael, and I will be betrothed to him with all the 
ceremonies of the law, for he came to me as a 
messenger from God. And when the marriage has 
been performed, I will submit myself to him as 
a wife to her husband. 

Haggith. And let Ingur also be received into 
Israel, for he has repented of his idolatries. And 
he shall be my husband, yet shall he not rule me. 

Ozias. Brethren, hearken! This night I go 
to Jerusalem, for I am called to higher things, 
because I have delivered Israel, And I shall not 
return to this little city ; but ye will have tidings 
of me in the years to come, and ye will say proud- 
ly to the strangers within your gates: He was a 
Bethulian and once he ruled over us. 

Judith. The lord Ozias is called to greatness. 
Peace go with him. 

All. So be it. 

CUETAIN. 



